Crizaves sets the standard for Portugal

Crizaves is located in the Tondela region of central Portugal, a beautiful mountainous area with a fertile microclimate ideal for breeding farms. It is well-known for its mineral springs and spa establishments in an attractive forest setting. Crizaves is looking to the future by integrating intelligent solutions that set new standards in the Portuguese poultry industry.

Keen on meat quality

Portugal is a unique country with rich traditions and diverse gastronomy. The high quality of Portuguese chicken is driven by consumers’ demand for perfect presentation, leading retailers to set high standards for poultry processors. Supermarkets, where most of Portugal’s 9.8 million people get their meat from, offer top-quality products to discerning consumers, while small butcher shops are becoming less common.

Nuova-i

Marel’s Nuova-i eviscerator was specially developed for this kind of situation, where it was necessary to handle a variety of different birds. At the time when Crizaves was rethinking their evisceration department, Nuova-i wasn’t even on the drawing board. When, however, Marel launched Nuova-i, this innovation inspired Crizaves to incorporate it into their plans, because Nuova-i’s high level of dynamism perfectly matched the Portuguese need for polyvalent processing. Crizaves’ upgrade project now combined existing and brand-new developments to get the best possible outcome, and turned out to become lively and dynamic.

Incomparable

“The difference between our previous Stork eviscerator, which dated back to 1979, and our new Nuova-i is huge. You cannot compare the two! Until now, we couldn’t eviscerate our larger chickens automatically. We had to do them by hand. In our new evisceration department, we have been able to reduce labor, a crucial benefit given the difficulty of finding workers. Those who still work here now enjoy much easier tasks and greatly improved working conditions,” says Mariana dos Santos. “The giblet harvesting process is also totally different. In Portugal, there’s a big market for livers, gizzards and hearts. Now that we have automated processing, giblets are really dry which improves their appearance and shelf life. The product looks fresher on the tray. We sell these products fresh rather than frozen, in line with Portuguese culinary traditions. Livers and hearts are important ingredients in local recipes, such as canja de galinha—a chicken and rice soup that has developed from being a home remedy for the convalescent to being a premium dish. We also include a bag of giblets, neck and feet inside the whole bird for cooking separately.”

Alberto Afonso adds, “The Nuova-i is working very well for us and has improved our production. Yields on our challenging light birds are outstanding and are almost perfect on our heavier broilers. These are figures we could never have imagined before.”

Marel adapts to the needs

Mariana dos Santos continues, “We always turn to Marel for their reliable systems and their excellent support. They help us predict and resolve issues fast, even remotely, ensuring that we can keep on producing. This is crucial, because a single day with no production means for us potentially 55,000 chickens that we have not been able to process. As the market is constantly changing, we have to adapt to meet its demands and our clients’ needs. Marel makes this easy by listening to us and working together with us to create tailored solutions. With our lightweight broilers and specific consumer habits, we have special requirements. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all solution, Marel is always innovating to meet our diverse and evolving needs. Such collaboration is crucial for achieving the best results.”

Convenience food

“In Portugal, poultry accounts for 46% of meat consumption. Our annual consumption of poultry is 45 kilos [99 lbs] per capita, the highest in Europe, and is expected to rise by 2% each year. There are no religious restrictions on poultry. It’s a healthy meat and it’s popular with children. At Crizaves, we are confident we’re in the right sector and continue to invest, such as in the production of convenience food. Convenience is increasingly important, as young people in Portugal have ever less time for cooking at home. Supermarkets have largely done away with in-store butchery. Meat on the shelves is now pre-packaged. We are adapting to this trend with the ACM-NT cutup line and AMF-i deboning line. These offer a wide variety of cuts for convenience products to meet customer demands,” concludes Mariana dos Santos.

About Crizaves

Crizaves is part of the Portuguese Grupo Valouro, consisting of 39 companies in the agribusiness sector and employing around 2,200 workers. Before being acquired by Grupo Valouro in 1991, Crizaves was a small family business founded in 1983 as a slaughterhouse for chicken and later also turkey. It began in the Tondela region and after many changes is still there. Through Grupo Valuoro, Crizaves was able to invest in new equipment, increase production and access new markets. Today, Crizaves sells its products on the Portuguese market and exports parts of the chicken not consumed in Portugal to Africa. Besides broiler processing, Crizaves also runs a dedicated Marel equipped turkey processing line.

Company website: grupovalouro.pt