Tage Klint (1884-1953)

In 1942 Lactosan was established by a small group of industrious Danish businessmen who were all associated with the food business in some capacity. 

Tage Klint (1884-1953) was the initiator to the establishment of Lactosan, situated in Havnegade, Odense, Denmark. Tage Klint was son of the arcitecht P.V. Jensen-Klint, best known as the creater of the Gruntvigs Church in Copenhagen.

In the beginning eggs were broken by hand and dried on a new spray drier by the pioneering Danish firm Niro Atomizer. 

The production included powder made from whole egg, egg white, yolk and some frozen products.

Picture left: Men loading egg powder at the harbour of Odense, Denmark.

Picture: Christian Jessen

A new baby milk factory was established in Ringe - today the HQ of Lactosan Group.

Cheese powder was invented by Lactosan in 1951 and so a conversion from lactose and whey powder production to the production of processed cheese started.

Christian Jessen, factory manager at that time, experimented with the production of cheese powder made from melted cheese by using a spray drier. This had never been done before, but after some time he developed a unique technique to produce cheese powder.

1951 was also the year when Lactosan started to experiment with the pasteurisation of its egg produts, so they would be able to supply the market with salmonella free product.

Picture: Sample of label for processed cheese by Lactosan.

Picture: Egg breaking machine anno 2008

In the 1950's Tage Klint's son Jan Klint returned to Denmark from several years in the US. Jan Klint was a clever engineer, and by early 1960’s he had designed and constructed an automatic egg breaking machine which was first used at Lactosan’s egg products plant and later sold on the market.

1961: Lactosan and Dansk Tøræg Fabrik established Sanovo Levnedsmidler A/S.

1964: The starting year of the new factory in Zeven, Germany - today
SANOVO EIPRODUKTE GmbH & Co. KG. 

 Picture: Torben Ernst (1918-2002) 

Picture: Morten Ernst (1945)

After the founder Tage Klint passed away in 1953 he was succeeded as Managing Director by Torben Ernst (1918-2002). Torben Ernst was a protégé of Tage Klint and had been with the company from day one. He remained Managing Director and shareholder until 1986. During this time the company had expanded into international egg products processing and become a world leader of egg processing equipment and engineering through SANOVO TECHNOLOGY (see www.sanovogroup.com).

His son Morten Ernst joined LACTOSAN-SANOVO in 1967. He was in charge of the company’s subsidiary SANOVO (USA) Inc. from 1969 to 1986. Today Morten is responsible for LACTOSAN-SANOVO egg products sales in Asia-Pacific from his base in Bangkok, Thailand.

(In 2004, his son Christoffer Ernst became Chief Representative of SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP's activities in China.)

 Aage Stadil (1911-89).

Thor Stadil (1944)

When the Klint and the Rühne families started to sell our of their shares in the late 1960's the main buyer was the Danish wholesale egg dealer Aage Stadil who from 1967 played an important role in the development of Lactosan.

By 1976 Stadil had 45% of the share capital and so did Munke Mølle (Munks Mill - today Cerealia).

In 1978 Thor Stadil (1944), son of Aage Stadil, enters the board.

Thor became a lawyer in 1971 and worked with the company Philip & Partnere in Copenhagen.

Thor has made the business what it is today. Through the mother company THORNICO A/S he owns more than 50 companies around the world. Food Ingredients, Packaging, Shipping, Sports & Fashion wear and Real Estate make up the cornerstones of Thornico Group.

(You can learn more about Thornico Group by clicking in the menu bar to your left).  

Picture: The Lactosan factory in Ringe, Odense.

In the late 70's Dansk Tøræg Fabrik withdraws from SANOVO and so a modernisation of the company SANOVO takes place between 1978-1986. It ends with the creation of a parent company called Lactosan-Sanovo Holding A/S.

Therefafter the production takes place in three subsidiary companies 1) Sanovo Foods A/S for egg products, 2) Lactosan A/S for cheese powder and 3) Sanovo Engineering A/S for the production of machinery and for the sale of know-how to foreign companies.

In the early 80's the new cheese factory in Ringe is built

Picture: The SANOVO Eiprodukte GmbH Factory in Zeven, Germany.

I 1991 Scanegg Holding was founded. More factories have been bought, especially in Germany, and production units have been established in Venezuela, Spain and England .

At the cheese factory in Ringe further investments were made in new technology, the so-called belt drying and the factory in Uruguay is also part of the concern.

Picture: Our owner Christian Stadil

In 2002 Thor Stadil bought all the LACTOSAN-SANOVO Holdings shares from the Millers Fond.

In 2003 Thor Stadil bought all shares in SANOVO Eiprodukte, Germany.

Today all the companies are 100% owned by the Stadil family through THORNICO A/S. Thor Stadil's son Christian Stadil is co-owner and has entered the many boards.

In 1999 Thor and Christian Stadil, bought the Danish sports company hummel. Within few years they revitalized the company and turned it into a very succesfull company a.o. by dividing it into: Fashion and Sport. By sending clothes to famous people they started to brand the retro hummel sports wear.

Picture: The new built factory in China.

OVODAN FOODS China, our chinese egg production company, was founded in 2005.

Learn more at: www.ovodan.com