Sterilgarda Alimenti S.p.A. is an Italian dairy produce company, based in Castiglione delle Stiviere in the Province of Mantua.

History

Sterilgarda was formed in 1969 by a group of local dairy farming entrepreneurs to take advantage of two new technology innovations in milk production: the development of

UHT milk Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), ultra-heat treatment, or ultra-pasteurization is a food processing technology that sterilizes liquid food by heating it above – the temperature required to kill bacterial endospores – for 2 to ...

, and the invention of the

Tetrapak Tetra Pak is a Swedish– Swiss multinational food packaging and processing company with head offices in Lund, Sweden, and Pully, Switzerland. The company offers packaging, filling machines and processing for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cr ...

container. When combined, this would allow dairies to stabilise production, allowing long-term storage of quantities of milk for when they were need to be purchased by consumers, and also extend the possible distribution chain even to where there was no daily door-step delivery. Formed and still based in Castiglione delle Stiviere, the company started out by supplying just milk delivery companies. It quickly expanded in the 1970s to forming partnerships with retailers, and later into the foods market supplying milk and whey for the production of mascarpone cheese. Later in the decade, the company started centralised production of

tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce the water content, straining out the seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an inten ...

, being close to the "hot-break" tomato production centres of th
Casalasco farmers co-operative
located in Rivarolo del Re ed Uniti,

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

and

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

along the

River Po The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. Th ...

valley. With increased production in the 1980s, the company fully automated its production lines. This also allowed the company to extend into the production and packaging of fruit juices initially in consumable

cellophane Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coated ...

-wrapped packs for school children, and later family-sized

litre The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3 ...

-scale Tetrapak varieties. By the mid-1980s, the company had experimenting with the production of desserts, especially a type of

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...

without milk-protein, but that was only initially available locally to the dairy due to its needs of being produced in

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

jar A jar is a rigid, cylindrical or slightly conical container, typically made of glass, ceramic, or plastic, with a wide mouth or opening that can be closed with a lid, screw cap, lug cap, cork stopper, roll-on cap, crimp-on cap, press-on c ...

s. Fruit juice production was also expanded, with specific lines for the mixing industry aimed at cocktails, particularly a refined tomato juice for creating a

Bloody Mary Bloody Mary originally referred to: * Mary I of England (1516–1558), Queen of England and Ireland, so called because of her persecution of Protestants Bloody Mary may also refer to: Film * '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'', a 2005 horror fi ...

. Cheese production had also expanded with the introduction of

gorgonzola Gorgonzola (; ) is a veined blue cheese, originally from Italy, made from unskimmed cow's milk. It can be buttery or firm, crumbly and quite salty, with a "bite" from its blue veining. History Historically, gorgonzola has been produced for ...

and

mascarpone Mascarpone (, , ) is a soft Italian acid-set cream cheese. It is recognized in Italy as a ("traditional agri-food product"). Outside Italy, mascarpone is sometimes mispronounced as "marscapone", even by food professionals. Production process ...

, and the introduction of

cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are often added in industrial production. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration de ...

and

cottage cheese Cottage cheese is a curdled milk product with a mild flavor and a creamy, non-homogeneous, soupy texture. It is made from skimmed milk by draining the cheese, as opposed to pressing it to make cheese curd—retaining some of the whey and keep ...

production. In the early 1990s, the company develops new portion-sized deserts based around a mix of UHT derived

pannacotta Panna cotta (Italian for "cooked cream") is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream may be aromatized with coffee, vanilla, or other flavorings. History The name ''panna cotta'' is not mentioned in Ita ...

and fruit mix, which mainly replace the dwindling requirements from consumers for yogurt-based products. At the start of 2000, the company introduced lactose-free milk, flavored milk and deserts with added

Omega 3 Omega−3 fatty acids, also called Omega-3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond, three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their chem ...

. With new packaging available from Tetrapak, from 2000 Sterilgarda milk is marketed as "milk with cap", which brings a large growth in UHT milk sales. In 2010, using a patented-process, Sterilgarda launched micro-filtered UHT milk, providing a product with a long ambient-temperature storage life before being used.

Present

The main plant covers an indoor enclosed area of and employs 263 people, on a site capable of doubling plant size. It currently produces of product per day, through eight product-line plants and 27 packaging lines. The separate but enclosed cheese dairy plant produces of mascarpone and of ricotta per day. The company currently produces: *20 lines of milk and liquid product, covering: milk, juice, cream, whip cream, béchamel, sorbet base, chocolate milk, banana milk *20 lines for desserts, covering: yogurt, milk pudding, panna cotta *20 lines for cheese, covering: mascarpone, ricotta and spreadable cheese *Tomato paste They currently have under development new lines for the drinks market, covering cocktail mixers, energy drinks and herbal teas.

Sports sponsorship

The company has been a long-term sponsor of local football club F.C. Castiglione, that in the summer of 2010 the club changed its name to "F.C. Sterilgarda Castiglione A.S.D.". From 2004 to 2011, the company were active in motorcycle racing sponsorship, mainly supporting

World Superbike Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

teams with Italian riders. This started in the 2004 season, when the company sponsored the privateer DFX team who hence choose Marco Borciani to ride their Ducati 998RS. This continued until 2010, when they became main-sponsor of the Yamaha factory teams YZF-R1's. After Yamaha decided to pull out of WSB at the end of the 2011 season, Sterilgarda also confirmed that they would stop sponsoring teams in WSB.

Max Biaggi Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi (; born 26 June 1971) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who achieved six World Championships. With four 250 cc road race titles and two in World Superbikes, he is one of only two ri ...

, who rode for the

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

-sponsored Aprilia WSB team, is the current main personal-sponsored rider and face of marketing of Sterilgarda in Italy. Starting in 2019 Sterilgarda became the main sponsor of

's Moto3 Team, Max Racing.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 46.573410, 11.663950, display=title Dairy products companies of Italy Companies based in Mantua Food and drink companies established in 1969 Italian companies established in 1969 Italian brands