“Serving generations of meat lovers since 1902,” St. Louis-based, family-owned and operated Volpi Foods offers a large selection of dry-cured meats—salami, coppa, prosciutto, and mortadella among them—to retail stores nationwide from its location in the Italian neighborhood of The Hill. According to Volpi Foods Marketing Communications Specialist Madeline Gauch, sustainability is important to the company, as it demonstrates that Volpi has its customers and future generations in mind. “We’ve always been thinking about sustainability and improving our efforts, as we want to lead the way,” she says.
This emphasis on sustainability extends to its packaging, as well. In early summer 2023, Volpi introduced new packaging for its sliced, cured meat, a fiber-based thermoform tray with a plastic layer that can be removed to allow for recycling of both the paper and plastic. The Ecocraft Shape from Südpack is constructed of 80% paper-based material and 20% polyethylene film and uses what the supplier calls a “functional layer” to enable easy, fiber-free separation of the paper and film.