Cluster Food +I is a non-profit association comprising companies, research centres and regional government institutions that aims to promote the competitiveness and the development of the Ebro Valley region (Spain) food industry through collaboration and innovation. Any company, body or entity wishing to innovate and get involved can become a member and be a part of the initiative. The number of associated SMEs is around 300 and their aim is to link together individuals and companies to contribute effectively to the transfer of technology, the creation of networks and the dissemination of information, achieving a level that ensures competitiveness. Arranging the Meat Brokerage event as part of the TRADEIT network therefore provided an ideal opportunity to do what they do best.

The Meat Brokerage Event (MBE) was the 4^th in the programme of 6 events to be run by the TRADEIT project. Cluster Food + I  was able therefore to capitalise on all the learning that had gone before and create an event that was right for our product and which showcased the region.

Two of the previous three events had been aligned to large international conferences and these had worked really well (as discussed in Lessons 2 and 3). For this event, they opted for a more local approach and decided to utilise their TRADEIT SME partner Martinez Somalo. The TRADEIT project is  really fortunate to have this company as part of the network and were even more fortunate that we could build a tour of their premises into the programme.

Like the previous brokerage events, they had built a detailed programme of expert speakers and bi-lateral meetings into a compact one-day programme. Food demonstrations were added as feedback suggested that producers wanted more practical activities in the programmes. Four main themes formed the structure of the sessions delivered by the expert speakers:

• Preservation and shelf-life
• Traceability and prevention of fraud
• Healthy meat products
• The consumer: in product design and in food trends.

Day 2 of the programme was the visit to Martinez Somalo.


The business has been operating now for four generations, since around 1900, in La Rioja. While still producing traditional products, the methods of production have been progressively upgraded and now include an impressive state of the art production facility.

Martinez Somalo produces a range of products, traditional and new, which includes:

• Chorizo
• Loncheados
• Lomo
• Sarrano Ham: Bodega; Reserve; Gran Reserve and Gran Reserve “Family”
• Plus a who range of speciality products

The visit provided insights on the whole business process and created an opportunity to see how a family business, from very humble beginnings, can grow into a multi-million Euro operation. While staying close to its traditional product range, the business has embraced technology to increase output, but also to ensure that quality and the traditional ethos of the business are maintained.