Our story is not about how one egg turned into 20 chickens...

It is about how we became the worlds’ leading manufacturer into the egg industry. 

We are a company with strong roots and a long history

It all began over 60 years ago where SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP was founded, and since then, eggs in both raw, fluid, and powder form have been part of our DNA. 

1961 - SANOVO Founded

SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP, originally known as SANOVO ENGINEERING A/S, was founded by Lactosan and the Danish Tøræg Factory under the name SANOVO Levnedsmidler A/S in October 1961 in Odense, Denmark. The main target was production and trade of food, but quickly the company also decided to enter into the production of egg breaking machines. 

November 1979, a new company SANOVO ENGINEERING A/S, was founded to continue the production and it became a subsidiary 100% owned by Lactosan-SANOVO Holding (today known as THORNICO).

Why the name SANOVO?
The SANOVO name is a compound of SAN and OVO:

  • SAN to show our origin from LACTOSAN
  • OVO is the latin word for eggs.

1956 - STAALKAT founded

Mr Dirk van Katwijk, founder of Van Katwijk’s Industrial, bought the company 'Libra' in Hummelo in the east of Holland and moved it to Aalten. They were a producer of machinery for the textile industry. His idea was to produce egg-grading machines besides the existing product range.

The company was founded in September 1956 and named STAALKAT.

In 2006, STAALKAT joined the SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP and today it has been renamed to SANOVO TECHNOLOGY NETHERLANDS.  

Why the name STAALKAT?
The STAALKAT name is a compound of STAAL and KAT

  • STAAL to show that the machines where build of steel, and staal is steel in Dutch
  • KAT is from the name of the founder Katwijk

Milestones

Below we have mapped some of the defining moments in our history which changed the landscape of our company and the industries we are part of.