Dewfresh Products Ltd. is one of the largest pork and beef processing company in Malta and has been established since 1982. The parent firm, “Gianni Pisani’ has been established since 1884 and it is from that time that the family has been working in the meat trade with John and later on his son, Anthony together with his wife Josephine, running two butcher shops and involved in the livestock import business.

After the end of World War II, Anthony started importing frozen meat and also entered into the manufacturing business by producing English-type sausages. The ‘Pisani sausages’ as they were called, became increasingly popular with the Maltese consumer and so Anthony bought the first factory in 1956 to increase their production and cope with the high demand.

Two of Anthony’s sons John and Charles joined the business to give a helping hand to their parents. John was in charge of the manufacturing business and was responsible for the sausage production while Charles together with his father Anthony managed the distribution of the imported and manufactured products and Josephine ran one of the butcher shops (the other butcher shop was closed down).

Josephine was loved and respected by the shop’s clients who would willingly rely on her recommended meat dishes. In 1965, Josephine pioneered the manufacture of local beef burgers by producing small quantities within the shop. These were immediately liked by her loyal clientele and due to the high demand, Anthony decided to increase the production of the ‘Pisani Burgers’ within the factory.

Anthony died in 1968. On the 14th November 1970, John and Charles set up their own company, J&C Pisani Ltd. which included the management of the butcher shop by Josephine, the manufacturing and import business. The butcher shop was later closed on the retirement of their mother, Josephine. Upon the establishment of the company they moved to Albertown in Marsa where they erected their first establishment comprising cold storage facilities and a manufacturing plant, known today as Albertown Cold Stores.

The government’s incentive scheme in 1971 gave a further boost to the ‘Pisani sausages’ and ‘Pisani burgers’ and this encouraged the company to invest in automated machinery and human resources to meet the local demand. From then on the company progressed at great strides by being one of the leaders of frozen meat importers and pioneers of the local manufacturing of English-type sausages, beef burgers and prepacked meat products.

On the 27th December 1982, John and Charles established a subsidiary company, Dewfresh Products Ltd. to separate the business into two companies, namely Dewfresh Products Ltd. as the manufacturing company and J&C Pisani Ltd. for the importation of frozen foods and distribution of Dewfresh Products Ltd.

The success of the company led J&C Pisani to develop further by subsequent extensions of the original premises to cope with the increasing demand for their products:

1981 - The company acquired additional adjoining property to expand the cold storage facilities on ground floor level and to enlarge the manufacturing plant so as to commence the production of more product lines consisting of ham, bacon and continental charcuterie products.

1987 - the company extended the premises further to erect a new pig chiller and pig holding room, blast freezers, a boning plant and additional cold storage facilities in the manufacturing plant.

1995 - Acquisition or more property for future expansion.

To date the company is upgrading the manufacturing and cold-storage facilities to meet Council Directives 77/99/EEC; 94/65/EC; 64/433/EEC and to enable it to become an EU export approved plant. It is also looking into its organizational structure to ensure the optimum efficiency and profitability of the organization.