O.P.A.S. Soc. Coop. Agr. (Product Organization Breeders of Pigs) is the largest Product Organization of the pig sector in Italy.
The Organization was founded in 2004 as an Agricultural Cooperative of pig breeders, with the aim of enhancing the meat produced by members.
To date, it represents 12% of Italian pig farming, able to breed heavyand intermediate pigs by planning and diversifying supply chain supplies in favor of the demands of commercial distribution.
The main activity of OPAS consists in the slaughter and sale of pork meat from pigs delivered by 64 breeder members.
The members, according to Community legislation of the Product Organizations, must give at least 75% of their production.
The OPAS members and their respective 300 farms, for a total of about 1,500,000 pigs reared per year, are located in the 6 Italian regions historically suited for pig farming: Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Marche.
The average size of the associated farms is 70 hectares cultivated and 30,000 pigs raised.
OPAS buys live pigs from partners and third-party suppliers, slaughters and sells meat to ham factories, food industries, sectioning companies, wholesalers, retailers, large-scale distribution and HoReCa.
The product sold is fresh meat, fresh processed meat, frozen meat, hams seasoned within the PDO (Parma and San Daniele) and "National" circuits, products produced under the "Eat Pink" brand (precooked, hamburgers, etc.).
The OPAS production site is in Carpi (MO).
The plant, with a covered area of 30,000 square meters, includes slaughterhouse, sectioning area, storage, livestock stables, offices. In Italy, OPAS is the pig slaughterhouse that processes the largest number of animals (about 25,000 pigs per week) and manages the largest number of supply chains, with constantly growing production volumes.
The Carpi slaughterhouse also has the certifications and health qualifications required by the main foreign countries that consume pork, in order to export, directly from Italy, pork products and unprocessed pork.