At 8:30 am the enthusiasm was already palpable in the courtyard of the historic OCRIM, which last 26 October enjoyed the sixth edition of its "Wheat, Flour and ..." event. Just like every year, many clients and friends from all over the world visited Cremona to experience an “annual” event, knowing they were to participate in something new, something that would have accompanied them back home with new knowledge and ever more convinced to have chosen a reliable, innovative and farsighted partner.

Engineer Alberto Antolini, CEO at OCRIM, welcomed the audience seated in the conference room of the company, by emphasising the corporate commitment for all the guests, and even those that were not present, to always rely on a company willing to accept challenges, a company that is always ready to innovate and undertake new routes. The floor was then passed on to Stefano Mazzini, Sales Director at OCRIM, who explained how the Cremona-based company is committed to being a complete partner and not only an engineering company, after having established a partnership with Bonifiche Ferraresi, thereby undertaking a route which fully involves the Italian industry - a route that travels from the soil and raw material (wheat) to the consumer's table.

The day proceeded with the technical conference "Stone mills and alternative flours: nutritional pros and cons and food trends” chaired by Lorenzo Cavalli (Chairman of Associazione Nazionale Tecnici Industria Molitoria [National Technical Association of Flour Milling Industry]) and presided over by chaired by experts in the milling, agricultural and medical sectors: Stefano Ravaglia (Head of Research and Development at Società Italiana Sementi – SIS) Marco Galli (Head of the Technological Department at OCRIM); Alberto Figna (Owner of Molini Agugiaro & Figna di Parma); Filippo Drago (Owner of Molini Del Ponte); Simona Digiuni (agricultural biotechnologist with international experience in plant research); Marco Tesini (Specialised nutritionist in Food Science).

The conference immediately attracted great interest for the subject matter as well as the exhibitions and the speeches presented by the participants. Listening to different points of view, based on a specific sector and individual skills was constructive and even “intriguing” because each of the speakers gave their own view in a concrete and direct manner. Therefore, there was an actual exchange of opinions and fields, discussions which were positively enlightened with the pros and cons of the flours produced with stone mills or cylinder mills. Common ground was found on the importance of the raw material - the wheat. According to the experts, the upstream check of the raw material must be thorough and carried out with total transparency. Subsequently, the product must be treated with care through advanced technologies to be prepared for the next step, to obtain top quality flour regardless of the type of milling system it will be intended for.

Following the conference, the guests moved on to the assembly department of the company, where lunch was served in line with the content and principles of the day: a table was artistically prepared with products from the Italian agri-food excellence, whose influential representatives attended the afternoon conference “Italian Food DNA”.

...To be continued