"I have dehydrated a lot of things in my life," says Antonio Bettarello, owner of Capuzzo, a company established in 1962 and specialising in the production of a wide range of diced, powdered and flaked fruit and vegetables as well as fruit in syrup, semi-finished products for the baking industry, organic and baby food and ready-to-eat products.
The Capuzzo facility is located near Verona and covers an area of 37,000 square metres with a stocking capacity of approximately 11,000 tons.
Antonio has been working in this sector since 1971 and started dehydrating organic fruit destined for the preparation of baby food. Recently, he also started processing local vegetables such as red chicory, pumpkins and asparagus.
Apples remain the leading product. "We are the leading supplier of dehydrated apple rings in Europe," explains Antonio. Capuzzo has a wide range of dried and dehydrated apples suitable for a variety of needs - they are available with or without the skin, with red or green skin, in various shapes, with different humidity rates, organic or suitable for baby food (i.e. residue free).
"The nutritional properties of fresh fruit and vegetables are not compromised when they are dehydrated. The process takes 4-5 hours at a temperature of 50-60°C. The produce is not pasteurised, but only loses the water. This technique actually improves it because it reduces waste and guarantees a very long shelf-life to products which would otherwise be perishable. Dehydration also leads to a high concentration of nutrients: a kg of dried product has the same content as various kilos of fresh produce."
Capuzzo mainly operates with foreign clients but demand on the domestic market has been increasing in the past few years, "so much so that our foreign market share dropped from 95 to 72%. We export to Scandinavia, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, to name a few."
Contacts:
Capuzzo
Via Cicogna, 37
37040 Roveredo di Guà (Verona) ITALY
Ph.: +39 0442 469090
Fax: +39 0442 469080
Email: info@capuzzo.com
Web: www.capuzzo.com
Author: Rossella Gigli
Copyright: www.freshplaza.it