Headquartered in Capua, Italy, Fattorie Garofalo is the world’s largest buffalo breeder and milk producer. Chief Commercial Officer Alfio Schiatti and Brand Specialist Luca Vinci discussed the company’s product range and commitment to high-quality production. Report by Antonia Cole.
Fattorie Garofalo purchased its first piece of farmland in 1962, where it started breeding Mediterranean buffaloes. Using traditional cheese-making methods, the company began transforming fresh buffalo milk into mozzarella, ricotta, burrata, mascarpone and butter.
In 2015, the company opened its own chain of shops and catering points, making products accessible to more consumers.
Now, Fattorie Garofalo has 3,000 hectares of land across seven farming-husbandry holdings, from which it has bred 12,000 buffaloes. The company employs 500 people and processes 38 million litres of buffalo milk a year from three industrial facilities. Exporting to more than 40 countries, Fattorie Garofalo generates an annual turnover of €140 million. The company combines
tradition and innovation to deliver fresh, authentic and healthy products.
“We operate with a circular integrated supply chain,” said Chief Commercial Officer Alfio Schiatti. “This supports us in upholding
one of our core values: quality. We are able to manage our products through the entirety of their creation, from what the buffaloes eat to how a cheese is packaged. Making informed decisions at every stage of the products
FATTORIE
development, we are able to ensure that we are offering the highest quality produce. Consumer satisfaction is a priority for us.”
Creating premium cheese
Every year, Fattorie Garofalo sells more than 10 million kilos of products a year. The company transforms buffalo milk into a variety of different cheeses and offers a wide range of packaging types and sizing options. Fattorie Garofalo’s flavourful and convenient products are suited to individual customer needs, whether for a homemade meal or event catering.
“Our most popular products are our range of mozzarella varieties,” explained Mr Schiatti. “All of our mozzarella is made from 100 per
cent buffalo milk, ensuring that the taste and texture is of the highest quality for consumers. We want everyone to be able to enjoy our cheese, so we introduced a lactose-free range. This means that people with specific dietary requirements can eat our products with no problem.”
Fattorie Garofalo’s speciality, however, is Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO ‘Milk from Our Farms’ range. This cheese is only made with milk from buffaloes that have been born and raised within the protected designation of origin (PDO) area. All milk comes from certified Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO buffalo holdings and must have a minimum protein content of 4.2%, as well as a minimum fat content of 7.2%.
10,000 tons of buffalo cheese produced per year
Buffalo Mozzarella A-line from our farms
These specifications give the mozzarella the perfect texture and elasticity, with a creamy and slightly acidic flavour. Balancing tradition with modern technologies, Fattorie Garofalo utilises innovative processes to trace mozzarella production and guarantee high standards.
“To meet market demands, we also make an organic version of our Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO,” added Mr Schiatti. “Our Arianuova farm produces organic milk, guaranteed by the Bioagricert agrifood organic quality certification. Here, the animals are given large grazing spaces, constant water access and veterinary care. We carefully monitor and look after the buffaloes to deliver the best quality products.”
Superior quality standards
Animal welfare is at the core of Fattorie Garofalo’s operation. Each buffalo’s health and nutrition are managed to ensure the best quality of life. The animals are free to roam in large pastures with constant access to food and water. Each buffalo has 14m2 of space, even though European regulations only recommend 9m2.
Every day, the company carries out more than 1,200 internal checks on its milk to guarantee safety and quality. 60% of these checks relate to analytics, assessing the amount of fat and protein in the milk, for example. The rest involve process checks such as monitoring pasteurisers and shuttle valves. Fattorie Garofalo also conducts all standard microbiological tests and performs 2,020 external chemical-physical tests on the milk every year.
38 million liters of millk processed per year
“We take care of our buffaloes for their entire lives,” commented Brand Specialist Luca Vinci. “Correctly feeding and nourishing the buffaloes is essential to producing highquality milk. We cultivate corn, wheat, barley, oats, medicinal herbs, triticale and ryegrass on our farms for the animals. This gives them many health benefits, translating into greater welfare, fertility and vitamin intake.”
Fattorie Garofalo’s holdings adhere to ClassyFarm standards for animal welfare, recognised by the Italian Ministry of Health’s certified programme.
“We have incorporated advanced technologies and digitalised tracking systems into our production to monitor animal health and performance data on our farms,” continued Mr Vinci. “This allows us to record the activity of the farm and gives traceability to each of
our products. We also register all our holdings and heads of cattle in herd books, so that we can assess the ancestry of any animal.”
Future-focused growth
As the company strives to achieve more efficient and effective operations, it has heavily invested into sustainability. At the S. Aniello and Arianuova farms, Fattorie Garofalo has biogas production plants that generate more than 5,000 MWh of power a year from the buffaloes’ organic waste. On the roofs of holdings, as well as the production plants facilities, the company has installed photovoltaic systems that deliver 2,000 MWh of power a year. The combination of the biogas and photovoltaic systems help to cover 75% of the energy requirements of Fattorie Garofalo’s production.
As well as the planet, Fattorie Garofalo is dedicated to supporting people by providing employment and growth opportunities. All employees at the company are supported in their work, a sentiment that extends into Fattorie Garofalo’s partnerships. Building strong relationships with suppliers has been key in the company’s success, with some lasting more than 25 years.
“Moving forward, we hope to increase our number of buffaloes and further improve the quality of our products,” added Mr Schiatti, in conclusion. “Currently, we have an internal milk production of approximately 15 million litres. By 2026, we plan to cover 75 per cent of our demand internally. Fattorie Garofalo will continue to invest in technology and digitalisation to make this possible.” n
