Draft:LBG Sicilia Ingredients

LBG Sicilia Ingredients is a Italian company based in Ragusa, specialized in the production of locust bean flour and the preparation of mixtures of food stabilizers used mainly for ice cream, creamy cheeses, sauces and condiments.

History
Giovanni Carlo (known as Giancarlo) Licitra, after having worked for Ford of Europe in England and Italy, dealing with marketing and finance, he returned to Sicily to create his own company. Giancarlo Licitra's father owned a company that sold carobs and so his son's idea was to carry out the industrial transformation of those raw materials. In 2001, LBG Sicilia Ingredients was founded, becoming the second largest producer in the sector in the world. The company produces a natural additive obtained from carob seeds called "E410" which is used in many industrial food preparations. It also deals with the preparation of vegetable proteins and mixtures of stabilizing ingredients that contain not only carob seed flour, but also other products that the company buys and mixes upon specific request from large food industries such as Unilever, Nestlé, Muller or Lactalis.

The rest of the fruit is not thrown away but reused mainly in feed for breeding and in canned food for pets. There are many uses for carob-based additives in the food industry, where it is used to stabilize ice cream, baked goods, sausage, dairy products, as a food thickener in the preparation of various types of sauces and additives in jellies, as well as in the Confectionery sector for the preparation of biscuits, cakes, spreads and other desserts.

Exports and imports
The company exports its products to 90 countries (up to 2019 there were 80) and 95% of its turnover comes from abroad. In addition to the seeds of Sicilian carobs (about 60% of regional production is found in the Ragusano), it processes the fruits coming from the Mediterranean area, imports to Sicily of in fact, raw materials come mainly from other regions of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Greece.

Related Items
Category:2001 establishments in Italy Category:Companies based in Sicily Category:Italian brands Category:Companies in the Free municipal consortium of Ragusa
 * Carob