The New Zealand family business Verkerks has been manufacturing traditional European sausage products for over 60 years. Today the company is one of the country’s leading salami suppliers – and production systems from Schröter play a major role.
The Salami Specialist
Aalt Verkerk left the Netherlands for New Zealand in 1952. There the master butcher opened a butcher’s shop that grew continuously, and today is one of New Zealand’s leading salami producers. The company’s extensive range of traditional ferment salamis include European inspired variations, as well as distinctive regional flavors like Manuka Honey and Black Garlic. In addition, the manufacturer also offers snack products like salami sticks, for example.
Shortly before his death in 2012, Aalt Verkerk appointed a management team to ensure that the company would remain successful over the long term. The family are still involved on a daily basis including the current owner Mary-Anne Verkerk, the daughter of the founder, and her children Brent and Rachael. Verkerks is still based in the city of Christchurch today. Many people associate this name with both the center of the South Island of New Zealand, which is popular with tourists, and the devastating earthquake on February 22, 2011. On that day, the city was struck by powerful seismic waves. Skyscrapers began to shake, historic buildings collapsed, and roads were ripped open. Today the cityscape and atmosphere have changed. The population’s solidarity and will to rebuild have only become stronger, and the city continues to initiate a variety of new projects.
“We have worked with Verkerks since we began operating in New Zealand more than 25 years ago. We successfully completed projects together in 2002, 2011, 2014, and 2016,” says Frank Mack, who has known the company from the very beginning and supported it for many years together with Schröter’s New Zealand representative Multivac, describing the companies’ long-term relationship. “Verkerks has always taken the time to define its requirements with us, to accurately calculate the size of the systems, and to come up with solutions together,” he says enthusiastically.
In 2019, Schröter supplied a large climatic post-maturing system with 437 square meters of space for loaded wagons with special equipment. The focus was on minimizing bacterial growth during the post-maturing process as much as possible. “We supplied special HEPA filters to reduce the impact of the outside air supply,” reports Frank Mack. In addition, the system is equipped with a UV disinfection unit for ongoing production. Besides that, it also has a comprehensive automated cleaning system with Schröter’s RGA central cleaning station. “This is very unusual for climatic post-maturing systems and underlines Verkerks’ commitment to strict hygiene standards,” says Mack. In addition, the built-in cleaning system makes it possible to easily add a smoke supply for smoking or post-smoking, if required. Before purchasing the system, a team from Verkerks traveled to Germany to visit various meat-processing facilities and view climatic post-maturing systems from Schröter currently in operation. In doing so, the team from Verkerks was able to experience the state-of-the-art technologies for climatic post-maturing for themselves. Today Verkerks is the proud owner of the largest climatic post-maturing system in New Zealand. “We are convinced that Schröter’s unique solutions and services play a key role in ensuring that Verkerks enjoys an increasingly strong reputation with retailers and customers as a producer of the very best salami,” says Mary-Anne Verkerk with confidence.
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The installation of Schröter’s world-class drying system helps further enhance the reputation of both companies.
Terry Pierson, CEO A Verkerk Ltd.
