The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, through the Directorate General for Agri-food Quality and Local Product, has opened two proceedings against the Damm group for using the name Mallorca in direct relation to Laccao. A brand that no longer has any connection with the island and that is a 100% Catalan product.

White Rose andLaccaoThey share a common history. Both are historic, traditional, and emblematic products of the Mallorcan industry They ended up in Damm's hands and have lost their connection to Mallorca. The current situation with Laccao is a carbon copy of what happened years ago with Rosa Blanca, a beer that many still associate with the Balearic Islands, but whose only link to the islands is its name.

He closure of the Agama factory, owned by DammThis represents a further economic loss for the primary sector of the Balearic Islands. The portion of the subsidy that the brewery received The funds allocated to European Union and Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will be returned to the European Union and Spanish government budgets, respectively. No investment will be made in other potential businesses in the sector that could have received the funds had Damm not requested them and subsequently closed the factory.

The Prime Minister, Marga Prohens, has accused the Damm Group of deceiving the Administration and livestock farmers with the closure of the Agama factory in PalmaA leading figure in Mallorca's dairy industry. Furthermore, during the plenary session of the Balearic Islands Parliament, it was announced that the Government will revoke the declaration of regional interest which the multinational had requested and will demand the return ofa grant of more than one million euros"We will stand with the sector and support its initiatives to guarantee the continuity of the dairy industry," the president stressed.

Damm has announced that, after the closure of the Agama factory in Palma, will do everythingLaccaoin Catalonia, but will maintain its traditional recipe. Furthermore, the company has also assured that there will be no changes to the production quantity of this traditional Balearic Islands beverage, nor to its marketing or distribution; the only change is that, from now on, Laccao, one of the flagship products of the islands' industry, will be a 100% Catalan product.

Agama, owned by the Damm Group, announced this Tuesday the final closure from the Palma plant and brought an end to the last large dairy with its own production in Mallorca. The immediate impact, for now, has been felt in the countryside. Three Mallorcan livestock farms, which They depended on the central office as their main buyerThey are left in a situation of extreme fragility. progressive reduction of orders Its viability had already been strained, and the announcement of the closure confirms an uncertain scenario for farms conditioned by the additional costs of insularity and by competition from foreign products at lower prices.

The star product of the Mallorcan General Agrarian Association (Agama) and at the same time the chocolate milkshake that characterized the childhoods of many Mallorcans, Laccao in a glass bottle, is no longer made "neither in Mallorca nor with milk from the island," say company sources. "Only the carton is made, and when requested," they add. In 1944, the French dairy company Lactel, together with a pharmacist from Palma, created Laccao, which, as Lluís Sitjar's loudspeakers announced for years, was "the drink for athletes."

In the 19th century, Mallorcans didn't consume cow's milk. "Many houses had a goat, or even a man on their estates who sold goat's milk," says Mateu Morro, who was Minister of Agriculture in Francesc Antich's government. But changes related to the Second Industrial Revolution (the growth of cities, improved transportation, and the establishment of factories, among others) increased demand for milk in the main urban centers. To supply the population's needs, according to Morro, "European varieties of cows were brought in that were specialized in producing a lot of milk."