The company has developed an innovative industrial process to enhance the nutritional value of former food products such as pasta or confectionary by using them as ingredients in animal feed, paying special attention to food quality and safety, significantly contributing to the reduction of food waste.

Thanks to its innate attention to environmental sustainability and, in particular, to the reduction of food waste, the Dalma Group is able to supply the animal food chain with quality ingredients capable of reducing the environmental impact of the animal diet. The use of traditional cereals, protein and oilseeds, the production requires significant quantities of soil, water, fertilizers and fuel. For example, an experimental diet with 21% circular Dalma ingredients resulted in a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions and over 30% in water consumption. In addition, the use of Dalma ingredients, of “food” origin and mainly cooked, have an optimal microbial profile improves the general well-being of the animals.

The entire capital of Dalma was acquired, by a newly established company indirectly controlled by Nextalia. The founding partners, the Massa family, reinvested part of the purchase price received in order to hold a minority stake in the Group’s share capital and ensure continuity.

Francesco Canzonieri, CEO of Nextalia SGR, declared: “The acquisition of Dalma is an important step in Nextalia’s strategy to support Italian entrepreneurial efforts to approach the issues of circular economy and sustainability. Nextalia will be able to offer capital and investments to support Dalma’s ambitious growth and consolidation plan, also through acquisitions, in a sector characterized by high fragmentation and driven by structural growth trends. The operation is a further element of support to the agro-food chain in Italy”

Bruno Massa, chairman of Dalma, commented: “We are proud of the strategic partnership with Nextalia to support Dalma’s ambitious growth plan as a leader in the production of safe and sustainable feed ingredients, as well as being able to offer our customers increasingly performing products also from an environmental point of view. The operation will allow Dalma to offer its suppliers a greater presence throughout the country and further improve logistics efficiency. For over forty years, Dalma has focused on the attention and continuous improvement of food sustainability, as well as environmental sustainability, to produce ingredients for palatable and nutritious feed”.