BIENASTUR / The best cold meats for the right people

Our History

Back to find the origin of this Asturian company. The family of Mr Manuel Suárez Iglesias, called Cuco by his friends and collaborators, spent its entire life dealing with cattle. In this way, from a very young age he got the opportunity to learn how to distinguish the best pieces, the markets of prime interest and the incomparable art of selling livestock.

His entrepreneurial nature led him to set up a small shop in El Fontán in 1950 where, with his wife, he sold the excellent quality meat they themselves cut. Success came swiftly and the small family became Productos Cárnicos El Cuco S.A. to then grow to become one of the largest meat companies in Asturias.

Faithful to its claim “the best of the best”, one of the key principles of Productos Cárnicos El Cuco is to offer the best products in order to convey excellence to the consumer’s table. As a result of this, after years of research it decided to launch the Bienastur brand onto the market, the best products for the right people. It is centred on preparing cold meats with its all-time flavour using traditional recipes, doing without additives and artificial preservatives.

Innovation, Quality and Safety

At present, Productos Cárnicos El Cuco has two R&D projects underway that started in 2016, in collaboration with the University of Oviedo and the ASINCAR technological centre, all from an idea arising many years back. Now it has the institutional backing of the European Regional Development Fund, the FICYT (Foundation for Asturian Promotion of Applied Scientific Research and Technology) and the IDEPA (Economic Development Agency of the Principality of Asturias) to carry them out.

“REGRA3” Project

Technological alternatives to reduce the amount of fat and include omega 3 in the development of healthy traditional Asturian cold meats.

The main objective of this project is the development of technological alternatives to substitute/reduce animal fat, reduce the number of calories and cholesterol, while including omega 3 in traditional Asturian cold meats, modifying their lipid profile and obtaining a healthy meat product to cover the nutritional needs of kids and elders among other population groups.

“VEGATOP” Project

The development and validation of chorizo suitable for vegans.

The main objective of this project is the development of a vegan product that is organoleptically similar to traditional Asturian chorizo for its acceptance in the market for this kind of consumer. This project will make it possible to acquire knowledge on technological alternatives for the substitution of animal meat and fat with vegetable fats and proteins, in order to obtain a stable product without raw materials of animal origin and offering an acceptable flavour reminding of traditional smoked chorizo.

We hope both these new types of cold meat can become a part of BIENASTUR and come onto the market in the next few months. This is a clear bet on the wellbeing and health of society encouraging the union of tradition and the variety of current diets, for everyone to be able to enjoy authentic Asturian gastronomy.