European tanners of Spanish Entrefino lambskins complete important milestone in their quality improvement initiative

SELAMBQ (Spanish Entrefino Lambskin Quality) is the acronym of one of the concrete actions taken by a group of Spanish, Italian and French tanners coordinated by COTANCE and ACEXPIEL, UNIC and FFTM, dedicated to the improvement of the quality of Spanish Entrefino Lambskin leather. SELAMBQ focussed on identifying and addressing the factors generating a number of skin defects that have appeared in the last decade affecting an increasing proportion of the raw skin supplies and thus the profitability of the entire value chain.

High quality Entrefino lambskins were one of the few tanner’s raw materials which experienced sustained demand during the economic crisis induced by the COVID 19 pandemic. Keeping up their recovery and upcycling into high quality leather is a shared interest of all the operators of the value chain.

Gathering the representative business organisations of breeders (Interovic), slaughterhouses (Anafric) and tanners (Acexpiel), the SELAMBQ project, coordinated by Prof José Maria Gonzalez-Sainz, Associated Professor at the University of Zaragoza, aimed at developing good practices in the handling of Entrefino lambs. This action complements the investments of European Entrefino tanners in sustainability and in progressing towards traceability. Specific Animal Welfare measures in the housing of and flooring for Entrefino lambs were identified as a means to avoid certain skin conditions. Better flaying practices in the slaughterhouses for reducing the problem of grain breaks will reduce the numbers of lambskins that had to be discarded for further processing into luxury leathers.

Due to its interest for the Spanish livestock sector, SELAMBQ was awarded the support of EU Funds managed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain (*).

Although SELAMBQ had to abandon certain objectives due to the COVID 19 restrictions which impeded the free access to slaughterhouses for external parties, sufficient statistical intelligence on those other aspects could be gathered for pursuing the initiative.

Watch the video illustrating SELAMBQ:

The European tanners Riba-Guixa, Inpelsa, Colomer and Bosch Girona in Spain, Russo di Casandrino in Italy and Mégisserie Richard, Bodin-Joyeux and Alric in France, remain committed to join their efforts with their suppliers in order to maintain and enhance the extraordinary legacy of Entrefino lambskin leather for the leather industry, for customers in the luxury sector and for the satisfaction of demanding consumers.

* Project financed with 129.394€ (80% EU co-financed) by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and controlled by the General Directorate for Rural Development, Innovation and Agri-Food Training (DGDRIFA).