Sterilgarda was formed in 1969 by a group of local dairy farming entrepreneurs to take advantage of two new technology innovations in milk production: the development of UHT milk, and the invention of the Tetrapak container. When combined, this would allow dairies to stabilise production, allowing long term storage of quantities of milk for when they were need to be purchased by consumers, and also extend the possible distribution chain even to where there was no daily door-step delivery. Formed and still based in Castiglione delle Stiviere, the company started out by supplying just milk delivery companies. It quickly expanded in the 1970s to forming partnerships with retailers, and later into the foods market supplying milk and whey for the production of mascarpone cheese. Later in the decade, the company started centralised production of tomato paste, being close to the "hot-break" tomato production centres of the , located in Rivarolo del Re ed Uniti, Parma and Piacenza along the River Po valley. With increased production in the 1980s, the company fully automated its production lines. This also allowed the company to extend into the production and packaging of fruit juices initially in consumable cellophane-wrapped packs for school children, and later family-sized litre-scale Tetrapak varieties. By the mid-1980s, the company had experimenting with the production of desserts, especially a type of yogurt without milk-protein, but that was only initially available locally to the dairy due to its needs of being produced in glass jars. Fruit juice production was also expanded, with specific lines for the mixing industry aimed at cocktails, particularly a refined tomato juice for creating a Bloody Mary. Cheese production had also expanded with the introduction of gorgonzola and mascarpone, and the introduction of cream cheese and cottage cheese production. In the early 1990s, the company develops new portion-sized deserts based around a mix of UHT derived pannacotta and fruit mix, which mainly replace the dwindling requirements from consumers for yogurt-based products. At the start of 2000, the company introduced lactose-free milk, flavored milk and deserts with added Omega 3. With new packaging available from Tetrapak, from 2000 Sterilgarda milk is marketed as "milk with cap", which brings a large growth in UHT milk sales. In 2010, using a patented-process, Sterilgarda launched micro-filtered UHT milk, providing a product with a long ambient-temperature storage life before being used.
Present
The main plant covers an indoor enclosed area of and employs 263 people, on a site capable of doubling plant size. It currently produces of product per day, through eight product-line plants and 27 packaging lines. The separate but enclosed cheese dairy plant produces of mascarpone and of ricotta per day. The company currently produces:
20 lines of milk and liquid product, covering: milk, juice, cream, whip cream, béchamel, sorbet base, chocolate milk, banana milk
20 lines for desserts, covering: yogurt, milk pudding, panna cotta
20 lines for cheese, covering: mascarpone, ricotta and spreadable cheese
The company has been a long-term sponsor of local football club F.C. Castiglione, that in the summer of 2010 the club changed its name to "F.C. Sterilgarda Castiglione A.S.D.". From 2004 to 2011, the company were active in motorcycle racing sponsorship, mainly supporting World Superbike Championship teams with Italian riders. This started in the 2004 season, when the company sponsored the privateer DFX team who hence choose Marco Borciani to ride their Ducati 998RS. This continued until 2010, when they became main-sponsor of the Yamaha factory teams YZF-R1's. After Yamaha decided to pull out of WSB at the end of the 2011 season, Sterilgarda also confirmed that they would stop sponsoring teams in WSB. Max Biaggi, who rides for the Alitalia-sponsored Aprilia WSB team, is the current main personal-sponsored rider and face of marketing of Sterilgarda in Italy.
