Grup Cañigueral is a well-established business holding in the food sector with a history of more than half a century. We came into existence in 1969, and we’ve grown while maintaining our roots and family-focused approach. Currently led by the second generation, we keep the values inherited from our foundation alive: concern for people, continuous improvement through effort, and passion for a job well done.
GRUP CAÑIGUERAL elaborates the products COSTA BRAVA MEDITERRANEAN FOODS.
Companies: FRIGORIFICS COSTA BRAVA S.A., EMBUTIDOS MONTER S.L., COOPECARN S.L., FRESCOS Y ELABORADOS DELISANO S.A, EMBUTIDOS CASEROS COLLELL, and FRIGORÍFICOS CÁRNICOS LAS FORCAS.
We’re a dynamic industry. We control the whole value chain, from the farm to the plate, a 360º industry where we ensure the quality of all our products and the transparency demanded by our customers and consumers. From our 16 specialist plants, certified for the main export destinations, we distribute a wide portfolio of pork, beef and lamb/mutton products across the whole world. And we go beyond that, with innovative cured turkey or chicken charcuterie and non-meat based products such as our spinach, cheese, cod and cuttlefish croquettes...
We offer solutions adapted to the needs of the 21st century with food safety and quality so that you enjoy your time for yourself and your loved ones.
Our 15 production plants are located in rural areas on the Mediterranean shore, except for our first international plant in Virginia (United States), creating economic dynamism and helping to stabilize the population. Overall, we have more than 200.000 m2 of industrial land, specialised by product type.
Our goal is to be efficient and this means exploring new ways of production. Such as, for example, the quartering, cutting and packing of our meat which is carried out in continuous flow, without stock in order to capture optimum freshness, and guarantee you get products of only the highest quality, whether they’re fresh or frozen.
Innovating in processes allows us to offer you new sensations on your palate. The juiciest hamburger meat because it’s made using the “low pressure” technique, offering a loose texture... Innovating is also using advanced technology to return to the past and replicate, step by step, the process of our grandmothers, making croquettes with creamy dough and fine and crunchy breaded batter, like ours. No one else makes them like this.
Together with INNOVAC, we are researching the recovery of proteins from slaughterhouses ( Read more ).
The monitoring of our own agri-food chain guarantees you traceability, food safety and quality from the farm to the table. Our specialised production plants are equipped with microbiology laboratories which carry out constant analyses of the product. X-ray and artificial vision controls guarantee complete trustworthiness regarding the label.
We understand quality as a shared task of continuous improvement in all areas. And in order to achieve this, the first step is full control of the food chain, which we apply working shoulder to shoulder with our farm suppliers so that we can know the origin and breeding of our animals, and guarantee traceability.
In the manufacturing processes, we apply a policy of Product Governance which focuses on food safety and quality. With these premises, we verify health and hygiene at all phases of production through the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system and the Standardised Plans for Hygiene Control (PNCH). In order to respond to any possible emergency, we establish and use incident management plans. We follow a responsible marketing policy, giving accurate information on our products with full transparency and responding to communications from the consumer confidentially and thoroughly.
Our production activities have the most relevant quality certifications in the world.
As a result, we’ve reached new strategic markets and succeeded in being the first national company with USDA certification to export white-skinned pork to the United States.
We slice in clean rooms in order to achieve the best guarantees of hygiene and we use technology 4.0, such as, for example, our automatic transporters which control the quality of one of the most complex processes, curing.
Defines our global strategy in order to act with honesty and integrity, based on a socially and environmentally responsible commitment.
Download PDFOpposed to any type of corruption, we work under the principle of legality and we renounce to influence the wills of others through the use of illegal practices.
Download PDFWe apply an effective management and response system for possible complaints that may be presented with a regulated process of mandatory compliance with evaluation of the incidence.
Download PDFWe look for a favorable environment. We assume multiculturalism with people employed from 50 nationalities and non-discrimination based on race, color, sex, marital status, ideology, religion.
Download PDFWe recognize the intrinsic dignity, as well as the equal and inalienable rights of all the members of the human family and we additionally assume non-violence as an essential norm.
Download PDF
Certified with the IFS FOOD Standards certification, one of the biggest standards of quality and food safety across the world, we guarantee our customers and end consumers the best product.
Certified with the BRC global standard, specific to the safety of agri-food products. This means that we ensure the quality and safety of the food products we offer to consumers.
AENOR certifies the quality and authenticity of the denomination of “Iberian pork” in our products. The certifying company carries out regular checks on our plants, associated with the slaughter, quartering, elaboration and production of our products subject to this denomination.
The ISO 14001 standard provides the necessary requirements to be able to implement an Environmental Management System. We therefore focus our efforts on complying with and improving our Environmental Management System.
Certified centres:
- Frescos y Elaborados Delisano SAU, by OCA Global
Traceability is essential to ensuring food quality along the food distribution chain. OCA Instituto de Certificación, S.L.U regularly audits us in order to certify that we comply with the regulations established in the technical document Swine Traceability System and with Regulation EC-178/2002 (article 18), in each of the production and distribution stages.
The certification of Specific Auto-control Systems authorises us to export our products at the European level, guaranteeing that our plants comply with the procedures and requirements of the official veterinary certification established in the Royal Decree 993/2014, of 28th November.
The ISO standard 14001 facilitates the necessary requirements in order to be able to implement an Environmental Management System. Therefore, we put all our efforts into complying with and improving our Environmental Management System.
Certified Centers:
-Embutidos Monter SLU, by Bureau Veritas
We have two production plants with Halal certification. Products with the Halal seal of guarantee add value to the product and guarantee its quality during the process of production, handling, storage, transport and distribution.
We were the first Spanish company to be certified for the exportation of meat products to the United States. USDA (the Department of Agriculture in the United States) is the federal agency responsible for supervising the food and agricultural industry in the US, regulating the entry of this type of products coming from overseas.
We were the first Spanish company to be approved for the export of meat products to the United States. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture is the federal agency in charge of supervising the U.S. agricultural food industry, regulating the entry of products of this type coming from abroad into its territory.
The Traditional Speciality Guaranteed seal ensures a product has specific differentiating characteristics from other food in the same category. The seal guarantees that a product is produced from traditional raw materials or those that have a traditional or artisan composition, production method or processing. In the case of our Serrano hams, produced according to traditional methods, the process cannot be less than 210 days and includes the stages of salting, washing-brushing, resting or post-salting, drying-maturing and ageing or refining.
We have the Certificate of Conformity of the Legal Audit of the Occupational Risk Prevention Management System.
The Audit has been carried out in accordance with the requirements established in Law 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention, the Prevention Services Regulations (Royal Decree 39/1997), modified by Royal Decree 604/2006 and the specific regulations in force.
Certified centres:
- Frigorífics Costa Brava SAU, by Audita Global Service.
The founders, Joan, Joaquím and Càndid Cañigueral, started their family business in Cassà de la Selva (Girona), which later became the company JOAN CAÑIGUERAL S.A. and the commercial brand “MONTER” came into existence.
Later, commercialisation was extended in Barcelona and the surrounding area, with a centre in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The slaughter room FRIGORÍFICOS COSTA BRAVA S.A. was started in Riudellots de la Selva (Girona) together with two other companies. The Grup Cañigueral is born with the diversification of activities.
EMBUTIDOS MONTER, S.L. was founded and the premises of a cured charcuterie factory in Sant Jaume de Llierca were acquired.
Creation of a clean room in the Sant Jaume de Llierca factory, with an expansion of the facilities, increasing the number of slicing lines and improving capacity and productivity.
The Cañigueral family acquired the Productos Cárnicos Pirene factory, in Les Planes d’Hostoles, in order to continue the business expansion.
In 2002 we launched the first cured turkey meat on the national Spanish market. Healthier products: up to 30% less fat.
Our Frigorífics Costa Brava plant has been approved by the Chinese authorities to export boneless ham and other pork products to China.
Acquisition of Coopecarn Girona S.L. (Quart). New activity with marinated and frozen meat, mostly for exportation.
Our Frigoríficos Costa Brava factory entered in the Japanese market.
One of our milestones in technology: Autonomous robot vehicles are implemented that circulate through magnetic fields, take our cured meats to the drying sheds and check that the curing process is in accordance with the defined pattern for each product.
A year later, the second phase of expansion of the Les Planes centre began, with new drying sheds.
Costa Brava is the first national company approved for the exportation of white-layer pork meat to the United States, thanks to having passed the most demanding standards for quality and food safety in the world.
Pernils Llémena, co-partnered by Embutidos Collell, part of Grup Cañigueral, begins exporting Serrano ham to the US and Australian markets.
Frigoríficos Costa Brava presents an extension of its factory in Riudellots, which totals 40,810 m², with a team of more than 1,300 specialised workers. With the subsequent expansion of the Vilamalla plant, it now has a total of more than 1,800 workers, more than 61,000 m² and a production capacity of more than 3.2 million pigs per year.
Our traditional star product, Serrano ham, has made a new entry into one of the world's major markets, the Japanese market. Three years later, in 2019, this product enters the Chinese market.
New addition to the Cañigueral Group: FRESCOS Y ELABORADOS DELISANO S.A.U., an innovative plant specialising in cutting and packaging.
Committed to freshness (production without stocks), it works with fresh pork, and specialises in processed products such as the widest range of gluten-free croquettes, breaded products and burger meats.
It is based in Cheste (Valencia) and has a workforce of more than 1,000 people.
Grup Cañigueral acquired the company FAR Jamón Serrano, S.A.U., located in Les Preses (Girona) with the aim of introducing the entire range of cured meats in the Group, diversifying business and expanding sales with increased exports.
We created a charcuterie package with a sustainability goal: the cuatripack, towards zero waste.
We updated our product catalogue with an innovative healthy option: chicken charcuterie in snack-type packaging, easy to eat anywhere.
In February, Grupo Cañigueral acquired new facilities in Vilamalla (Girona), which add 20,500 square metres more and become the company's second cutting plant. Including this plant and the one in Riudellots, the company has 61,280 m², more than 1,800 specialised workers and a production capacity of more than 3.2 million pigs per year.
In October, the Group presented the new international brand COSTA BRAVA MEDITERRANEAN FOODS, which brings together all the products of all the companies.
The SIAL PARIS International Fair, held from the 21st to the 25th of this month, was its commercial baptism.
Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods acquires the company Embutidos Caseros Collell, S.L.U. The four plants, located in the province of Girona, Les Preses, Sant Esteve de Llémena and Olot (2), will strengthen and expand a very important area for the Group, cured meats: sausages and cured ham.
The COSTA BRAVA MEDITERRANEAN FOODS portfolio includes beef products from the company FRICAFOR. From then on the new and extensive beef group was added to fresh pork, prepared meat-based products and charcuterie and snacks.
We are multiplying our efforts and precautions in these difficult times at Covid so that you can continue to have access to the highest quality and most food-safe staple products. Stay at home, you won't be short of anything. #EstoNoTieneQueParar
We have begun to conduct external sustainability audits, a commitment that requires us to improve our ESG indicators year on year, in the environmental, social and governance areas. They are our true sustainability roadmap.
Expansions of 8,000 m² of our Serrano ham plant, which will allow us to grow in capacity and also in quality, as it will enable us to increase the average curing period. We continue to consolidate our position as one of the main ham producers in Spain.
In Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods we have solar panels in our largest plants, and we continue to plan to install them in more plants. This year is also the first year in which we have 100% energy from renewable sources throughout the Group.
Total emissions this year were 46,962 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. And we continue to promote the reduction and compensation initiatives that we started many years ago. One example: the protection of the Can Tià Volcano forest, which you can see in the image.