Estirpe Negra expands its meat industry in Fregenal and Bodonal: public information

The Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE) opens the period for submissions regarding the largest meat operation in southern Badajoz. The Announcement of October 14, 2026, published in DOE number 209 on Thursday, October 29, 2026 (reference 2026081804, section IV), subjects to public information the request for a substantial modification of the unified environmental authorization (AAU) for the meat industry expansion project promoted by Estirpe Negra, SA within the municipal boundaries of Fregenal de la Sierra and Bodonal de la Sierra.

Twenty business days to submit allegations

The procedure is activated under Article 16, point 5 of Law 16/2015, of April 23, on environmental protection of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, as amended by Decree-Law 3/2021, of March 3, on urgent measures for the modernization of Public Administration and for the execution of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

The file may be examined for 20 business days starting from the day following the publication of the announcement:

• Consultation location: offices of the General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy of the Ministry of Industry, Energy, Science and Territory, avenida Valhondo, s/n., Module II, 4th floor, Mérida.
• Submission of suggestions and allegations: any registry provided for in Decree 257/2009, of December 18, or in Article 16.4 of Law 39/2015, of October 1.
• Recipient: Environmental Prevention, Quality and Climate Change Service of the aforementioned general directorate.
• Simultaneously, the request will be sent to the corresponding city council so that it may issue a technical report on the suitability of the installation, according to Article 16, point 6 of Law 16/2015.

The resolution of the procedure corresponds to the General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy, in accordance with Article 15 of Law 16/2015 and Article 17.6 of Decree 18/2026, of April 30, which establishes the basic organic structure of the regional Administration. The announcement was signed in Mérida on October 14, 2026, by the general director, Juan Eloy Rodríguez Ucedo.

An Iberian meat plant with 47 daily tons

The complex falls under section 3.2.a), group 3 of Annex II of Law 16/2015, referring to facilities for the treatment and transformation of animal raw materials with a production capacity of finished products equal to or less than 75 tons per day and greater than 10. The activity is that of an agri-food industry for meat transformation specializing in Iberian hams, shoulders, loins, and sausages. The declared annual production capacity is 47.07 tons per day.

The installation is located across two municipal boundaries:

• Fregenal de la Sierra: plots 45, 46, 47, 60, 67, 69, and 70 of polygon 40.
• Bodonal de la Sierra: plots 93, 2, and 1B of polygon 2.

The existing constructions add up to a significant built area: a manufacturing warehouse of 10,352.94 m² (reception, cutting, cold rooms, workshop, salting, post-salting, curing, drying rooms, boning, and packaging), a two-story cellar building with 5,779 m², a social and administrative building of 750.36 m², a machine room of 510 m², and a treatment plant of 11 m².

The planned new modules

The projected expansion comprises the construction of new modules detailed in the documentation submitted for public information:

• Fresh products section of 1,419.91 m².
• Curing of sausages with nine drying rooms and two cellars, 1,130.89 m².
• Sausage packaging of 1,109.14 m².
• Technical cold rooms and electrical panels of 210 m².
• Access control booth of 11 m².
• Exterior urbanization associated with the relocation of parking lots, new interior roads, and new access control systems.

Among the main facilities and equipment are the fresh and processing area (reception, cutting, trimming, salting, and sausages), the drying and curing area with its environmental control equipment, the curing and dispatch area (boning, slicing, modified atmosphere packaging, metal detection, and weighing), two diesel boilers with 0.697 MW of thermal power, refrigeration chambers, separate sanitation networks, storage tanks, a photovoltaic installation, and a wastewater treatment plant.

An authorization that precedes licenses

The AAU is the administrative figure that authorizes and conditions the execution and operation of the activity from an environmental point of view. Pursuant to Article 14.3 of Law 16/2015, it precedes, where applicable, other sectoral authorizations or mandatory licenses, including substantive industrial authorizations and urban planning licenses.

The announcement comes with a recent precedent in the DOE itself: on September 9, 2026, an announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Environment included Estirpe Negra, SA, with file AG-23-119, among the applications for investment aid for the transformation and marketing of agricultural products that needed to rectify documentation. That procedure was independent of the environmental one now being opened.

The relevance to the environment is twofold: the expansion consolidates an Iberian pork hub spanning two municipalities of the Sierra Suroeste of Badajoz, impacting rural employment and regional livestock activity, while simultaneously subjecting the project to neighborhood and environmental scrutiny regarding sensitive issues such as water consumption, wastewater treatment plant discharges, diesel boiler emissions, and associated heavy traffic. Any natural or legal person has 20 business days from October 30, 2026, to submit written allegations.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura, no. 209, October 29, 2026, section IV, Announcement of October 14, 2026 (official reference: 2026081804).