The company Matadero Frigorífico del Cardoner S.A. (Mafrica) is a family business dedicated to the slaughtering and cutting of pigs, sheep and beef, as well as the production of processed pork products. The firm, established in 1963 in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada in the region of Bages (Barcelona), works with suppliers who raise animals on relatively short distances to facilitate easy and quick transportation to the slaughterhouse, which greatly reduces the risk of stress during relocation – an essential factor in ensuring quality meat.
The company Matadero Frigorífico del Cardoner S.A. (Mafrica) is a family business dedicated to the slaughtering and cutting of pigs, sheep and beef, as well as the production of processed pork products. The firm, established in 1963 in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada in the region of Bages (Barcelona), works with suppliers who raise animals on relatively short distances to facilitate easy and quick transportation to the slaughterhouse, which greatly reduces the risk of stress during relocation – an essential factor in ensuring quality meat.
Mafrica is a company focused on developing a high quality product, ensuring animal welfare and sustainable development. These goals are possible thanks to the knowledge acquired over years along with the support of the Research & Development Department (R&D). The R&D Department, established in 2016, is integrated by a multidisciplinary team composed by a PhD veterinarian, a PhD engineer and an industrial PhD student. This multidisciplinary team, together with other Departments of Mafrica, enables to develop projects in collaboration with other research organisations. The R&D Department is, at present, collaborating with Technological Research Centres, Universities and other companies in several projects related with product quality, sustainability and technology.
During the last years several projects have been developed mainly focused on improve carcass and meat quality, product classification systems and researching processes for energy reuse and re-valorization of by-products, among others. Mafrica has been the leader of 4 Operational Groups of the European Association for Innovation in Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability and, also, a member of other 3 Operational Groups, enabling the implementation of innovative pilot technologies and materials. Some examples are an innovative technology using residual energy to dry slaughterhouse by-products to generate snacks for companion animals, a development of a prototype able to determine the intramuscular fat of pork meat using NIR technology or the research and implementation of more sustainable materials for the packaging of meat products. The company is committed to sustainability, proof of which are the numerous projects carried out in recent years, such as the installation of a solar park, the replacement of the company’s global lighting system with a let and the construction of a pilot plant to valorise pig’s blood, a by-product generated in large volumes.
Key role(s) in the project
In AccelWater project, Mafrica will act as supplier of waste and wastewater to the pilot plant that will be designed by UVIC (WP6). This pilot plant will be operated and monitored in the facilities of Mafrica with the technical support of technicians of Mafrica and UVIC.