Berna invests to make nitrite-free frankfurters the new normal
Pérola and João Häfeli
Divulgação
Since Swiss immigrant Hans Häfeli arrived in Brazil in the 1960s and founded specialty meat shop Berna in São Paulo’s Brooklin neighborhood, the business has prioritized traditional European charcuterie methods. The company is now seeking to establish itself as one of Brazil’s pioneers in offering products with fewer additives. Between 2024 and 2025, it launched three lines of red frankfurters without sodium nitrite—including Swiss Dog, now the company’s best-selling line.
The initiative is part of an investment of approximately R$1.6 million in research, development, and new equipment that began in 2017 to improve preservation processes. This includes removing sodium nitrite—a preservative permitted under Brazilian law—from red frankfurters. The move was inspired by manufacturers in Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“Swiss Dog has become the best-selling of all the frankfurters in our portfolio. In addition, 45% of the brand’s active B2B retail customers already stock at least one of the additive-free options,” said João Rodolfo Häfeli, the founder’s grandson and Berna’s CEO.
The company also offers two other lines of nitrite-free red frankfurters, All Beef and Wienerli, as well as the white varieties Weisswurst and Kalbsbratwurst, which are traditionally made without the additive. Preservative-free products already account for 41% of the company’s total frankfurter sales.
Berna, which projects revenue of R$70 million this year, aims to eliminate sodium nitrite from its entire red-frankfurter portfolio by the end of 2027, meaning it must remove the additive from another 12 lines. One of the main challenges is that eliminating the preservative—which also fixes the product’s reddish color—shortens its retail shelf life.
For that reason, the CEO said, changing the recipe was not an easy decision. “It was painful because the longer the shelf life, the greater our ability to reach retailers farther from the factory. Although the change has market implications, our focus is on making products we are proud to sell,” he added.
Without nitrite, the shelf life of the red frankfurters fell from 60 to 45 days. Initially, it was expected to drop to 30 days, but investments in pasteurization processes extended it to the current 45 days. Under the method now used, the products pass through specialized ovens at 72°C to prevent recontamination.
Chemist Pérola Häfeli, João’s mother and head of the company’s research and development department, said removing the preservative—including finding an alternative way to maintain the product’s reddish color—is not a simple process.
Finding the right pigmentation presented challenges. Some retailers did not respond well to the change, João Häfeli recalled. “At first, the result was not excellent because of the color, but we knew we were on the right track,” he said.
“We conducted extensive research until we found a substitute that ensured the ideal color and prevented consumer rejection. Brazilian law, in line with international regulations, allows 15 grams of nitrite per 100 kilograms of product. We apply many criteria to our production, which does not use mechanically separated meat, so this was another improvement we pursued,” Pérola said.
The colors were matched through a natural smoking process that intensifies the product’s pigmentation. “Another factor was a seasoning blend that added more color without changing the flavor. The ingredients are imported from Europe and are a trade secret,” the CEO said.
The preservative-free products have been well received by consumers and in business-to-business (B2B) channels. At the brand’s six company-owned stores, all in São Paulo, two of the nitrite-free options rank among the five best-selling lines in the overall catalog. Berna products are sold at 1,450 retail locations across Brazil.
To offset the shorter shelf life of the new lines, Berna has invested in specialized pasteurization ovens since 2017. The white frankfurters were the first products to undergo the process.
The transition to removing nitrite from all red frankfurters will require expanded pasteurization and rapid-cooling capacity, which the company expects to add in the first half of 2027. Pérola said the company is expected to purchase more ovens and a blast chiller. Berna’s factory in Louveira, São Paulo, has produced 140 tonnes a month since 1982. Frankfurters account for approximately 48 tonnes, or 34% of the plant’s total output.
Despite its investment in research and equipment, the company chose not to raise the new product’s price, even though it costs 8% more to produce. “We did not change the price because this product will be the new normal,” João said.
The company sells approximately 500 products, including frankfurters, sausages, cold cuts, mustard, sauerkraut, luncheon meats, bacon, cured ham, and salami. Nitrite is still used in some of them.
Translation: Todd Harkin
