History
Background
In 1949, the Valmorbida family immigrated to Australia from Italy. On arrival they were greeted with the 'chops & three veg' mentality and due to the lack of ingredients available, greatly missed the foods of their homeland.
In 1956, the patriarch of the Valmorbida family, Carlo Valmorbida, embarked on a project to service the Italian community in Australia by developing lines of products previously unavailable.
One of the lines most in demand was tuna. Whilst herrings and sardines could be found in selected continental groceries, the tuna available was canned in brine, dark and poor quality. Carlo immediately began developing a canned tuna for the Italian palate. With the help of a European friend, Carlo developed the famous Sirena flavour at the heart of which is the best available Italian extra virgin olive oil.
In the 1970's the Valmorbida family purchased Maria Luisa, at the time the largest tuna fishing boat in Australia. The boat was based in Eden, New South Wales and was fishing for tuna all around Australia.
By the early 1980's Maria Luisa could not keep up with supply so Carlo took his special recipe to Thailand, the world centre of tuna manufacturing. Here he found suppliers who could meet the demand for Sirena tuna in Australia and make the Sirena recipe to Carlo's exacting standards.
Carlo's tuna had to be pink and fleshy and presented in bright yellow cans. The product was aptly named Sirena which means mermaid in Italian. The Sirena mermaid appears on the top of every can.
Sirena tuna in oil was originally sold through markets and delicatessens specialising in European products and imports. Since this time Australians have developed the taste for Sirena and it is now a dominant market player available nationally in supermarkets.
Sirena today
Whilst Carlo Valmorbida has since retired from the family business, the brand's board consists solely of the Valmorbida family. Sirena's proud distributor, Valcorp Fine Foods works with the Valmorbida family to ensure Carlo's dream of great tuna for all Australians remains a reality.
