We produce
QUALITY AT EVERY STEP
From field to finished product, we keep our constant commitment to 100% natural products, whilst also guaranteeing the highest quality at every stage in the process, without the use of any chemical substances, GMOs and chemical solvents throughout the supply chain.
THE AGRICULTURAL PHASE
The agricultural phase is key in order to achieve effective active ingredients and to ensure quality and standardisation.
We grow more than 95 species ourselves, which form an essential part of our raw materials. For us, agriculture is the first step towards the health of all living things. We have always taken a modern, industrial and at the same time environmentally friendly approach.
ORGANIC, ALWAYS
Ever since 1978, we have grown exclusively organically, carefully following the European regulations that prohibit the use of fertilisers, chemically synthesised plant protection products and GMOs and that encourage environmental practices such as selecting disease-resistant species and specific cultivation techniques (crop rotation, green manure, etc.).
In our cultivations, we respect natural rhythms and resources while still achieving the quantity of raw material needed to make our products.
We do not force the crops, we are able to maintain their physiological growth by taking care of soil vitality so as to give the plant the best possible growing conditions. Our entire agricultural phase respects Good Agricultural and Collection Practices, specific guidelines for the production of medicinal plants.
MORE BIODIVERSITY FOR THE PLANET
Biodiversity is nature’s life reserve, essential for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem and the health of the entire planet, and that’s why we’ve always been committed to promoting and preserving it. One way we achieve this is by growing a wide variety of plant species in much greater numbers than a normal farm or medicinal plant producer.
Another way relates to the careful monitoring of wild herbs and weeds by our agronomists and operators, which helps to maintain the right ecological balance in the system. In Aboca’s fields, some areas are left uncultivated, and trees and shrubs are planted at the edges of the crops, precisely to increase biodiversity.
The fertility and vitality of our soil is also reflected in the abundance of microorganisms, insects and small animals that live underground or in the streams surrounding our crops.
These precious microorganisms play an important role in preserving soil stability and promoting its fertility.
As a result, the land that provides the raw materials for our products has not only maintained its biodiversity but has even improved over time. This is good news for both humans and the planet, and has earned us the highest score in the Biodiversity Alliance certification.
The Aboca Biodiversity Strategy outlines all our actions and commitments to protect, restore and increase biodiversity levels.
OUR BOTANICAL COLLECTION
We possess a permanent botanical collection of more than 1,000 species from all over the world, in order to identify and select the very best raw material.
This allows us to control the quality and to innovate by continuously searching for new species.
THE PHARMACEUTICAL PHASE
This phase allows us to extract the natural molecular complexes that form the basis of our formulas from the raw material harvested in our organic fields, without using artificial substances.
Our production facilities specialise in handling natural substances to achieve pharmaceutical-grade finished products. The entire process is carefully designed according to the principles of circularity, respect for the environment and innovation.
The agricultural facility
Freshly harvested raw material arrives at our agricultural facility in Gricignano (Sansepolcro, Arezzo). The facility was created by recovering a large area that had been disused for some time and reusing some of the aggregate material from the demolition of old structures.
Inside the facility, the harvested herbs are first selected and then cut. They are then dried in 30 thermoventilated ovens at a temperature of between 45 and 60 degrees. The process can take up to 60 hours.
Factory 4.0 in Pistrino
Processing continues a few kilometres away in our Factory 4.0 at Pistrino (Citerna, Perugia).
The production facility consists of several buildings covering approximately 40,000 square metres, largely made up of production areas built to cGMP pharmaceutical standards.
Here, everything is designed to ensure the maximum quality and standardisation at every step, using high levels of automation, intelligent production management software and continuous operator monitoring.
The plant houses one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical-grade extraction facilities for natural substances.
The extraction process relies on advanced technology and does not use organic solvents, but rather mixtures of water and alcohol, as well as advanced physical separation techniques such as ultrafiltration.
Each step is continuously controlled. Data is recorded on a central processing system to ensure the complete traceability of processes and products. This also allows us to verify and back-trace every single operation performed.
We produce different types of pharmaceutical forms, each in its own dedicated area: tablets, capsules, granules, ointments, gels, syrups, sprays, drops, micro-enemas and herbal teas.
Both the Pistrino production site and Aboca’s head office are ISO 14001 certified for environmental management systems.
We are renewing our energy for the sake of the planet
We have always been committed to using renewable and low-impact energy sources in our manufacturing operations. Currently, 95 per cent of the electricity we use comes from renewable sources. Now we are aiming for 100%.
A cleaner future with fewer detergents
Thanks to an innovation in our system for washing the machinery and steel drums used in production, we have been able to minimise the use of detergents within our plant. This optimisation has allowed us to save around 2 tonnes of detergents in one year.
100% FSC-certified paper
100% of Aboca’s product packaging supply chain is FSC certified.
FSC certification guarantees that the paper used for our packaging is produced in a way that respects the environment, biodiversity, and the rights of workers and local populations.
This is all part of a broader concept of sustainability: FSC-certified paper is produced without felling any primary forests and without harming any native communities or the balance of the ecosystem.