1.2.7. Distributing

Salami is transported, frozen or cooled and often over long distances to retailers, supermarkets. Company uses its own transport trucks.

1.2.8. Consumer

Most of salami is sold to the consumer by supermarkets, retailers. Salami is usually presented fresh to the consumer in a cooled showcase.

1.3. Sausages and salamis making

Sausages are not a new invention; people have been making and eating them at least since the 9th century BC, when sausage was mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. Many people do not differ salami or sausage as they come from different countries and every country has its own shape ant taste of salami/ sausage.
Sausage making was first conceived as a use for leftovers of meat. Originally, the meat was minced, salt was added, and the resulting mixture was filled into intestines. Today, sausages are made with different types of packaged seasonings, fresh herbs and spices, rusks or breadcrumbs, water or ice, blood, gelatine, organ meats and fat. Different seasonings give sausages their unique flavours, while the addition of grains or breadcrumbs changes the texture. Salami is a dry sausage, usually made of beef and pork, highly seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper and sugar.
The eating quality of pork is a combination of appearance, flavour, tenderness and juiciness. Tenderness is often considered one of the major attributes of importance and several works have concentrated on understanding the basic background of tenderness. These all attributes should be met in finding good kind of pig for producing high-quality salami.
There is general agreement that the pork industry needs to acquire a “license to produce” (Denktank Varkenshouderij, 1999) from the various groups of actors involved. This implies that the pork that is produced and therewith the whole pork production chain (or chains) should not give rise to many or strong societal and economical concerns and should thus be “acceptable” for most, if not all, (groups of) actors in our society.

1.3.1. Generally about salami

Salami is a cured (fermented and air-dried) sausage of Italian tradition. The name comes from the Italian verb salare, meaning to salt. Salamis tend to be more boldly seasoned (particularly with garlic), coarser, drier and, unlike cervelats, rarely smoked. Salamis are usually air-dried and vary in size, shape, seasoning and curing process. With the casing uncut, whole dry salamis will keep for several years. Once cut, they should be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to two weeks. Salami is best served at room temperature and can be eaten as a snack or as part of an antipasto platter, or chopped and used in dishes such as soups and salads. 3
Semi-dry sausage should be kept two to three weeks in the refrigerator. Dry sausage is kept four to six weeks in the refrigerator.

1.4. Profile Zwanenberg Food Group

Zwanenberg Food Group was founded in 1929. The company's expansion started in 1981 with the acquisition of Lupack in Raalte. In 1983, a canning factory was opened in Almelo. In addition to the expansion into the area of canned foods, the company also decided to invest more money in the meat and sausages product group. This resulted in the acquisition of the dried sausage activities of De Leeuw in Borne in 1989. 1996 marked the acquisition of Unilever's Zwan brand activities as well as the acquisition of the Linera licence in the Netherlands. These moves strengthened ZFG's canned food and meat and sausages interests significantly. Huls, a specialist in dried sausage, was added to this impressive list in 1998, to be followed by Hooymans (tongue and liver speciality products), Offerman, Kraak (sliced meats) and Cebeco Meat Products (cooked meats and meal components).
Zwanenberg Food Group has production sites throughout the Netherlands as well as two in the UK, and actively markets its products abroad through wholly owned subsidiaries in export markets such as England and the United States of America. Its Canned Foods business unit exports to a great many countries all over the world.
With 1,600 people employed at 14 sites and a turnover of approximately € 350 million (2004), Zwanenberg Food Group (ZFG) is one of the leading producers of meat and sausage products and canned meat in Europe. 4