Get a taste of France

Consumers world over are preferring natural and organic products.

In addition to the quality, for consumers, particularly of fresh products, in Normandy region of Paris organic, natural and most importantly local are the new buzzwords that are gaining fast popularity. Consumers world over are preferring natural and organic products. But local products or the products made from local ingredients is a new addition to the preferences of the consumers.

Its reflection can be seen in the hypermarkets, labels on foods, developing products using local ingredients and declaring it and various other initiatives in Normandy. Cora chain of Hypermerkaets display the local sourced products separately and highlight them as well as give the information of selected local growers/processors. Several products displayed in hyper and super markets carry a special tag ‘Saveurs de Normandie’ (flavours of Normandy).

It is the Norman Collective Brand since 2003 which is a “marker of guarantee and authenticity and commits to essential values,” said Christelle Lhommet, Chargee de mission Development International of AREA Normandie, the regional food industry association having 110 members.

Area Normandie awards the hallmark ‘Saveurs de Normandie’ following a procedure and it is audited by an independent agency. Lhommet explained in detail the elaborate process a product has to undergo to win the brand. To be eligible for the label the products have to be traditional or innovative, made in Normandy preferably with local ingredients, made according to traditional know-how and with good manufacturing practices. Such products are tested and approved by a consumer panel for their appearance, smell, texture and flavour. About 100 consumers are given a blind taste and the product should receive 7 out of 10 grades to be qualify to have the label. Over 460 products have been awarded the label till now. There are over 800 food companies in Normandy of which 200 are associated with the labelling in addition to the 110 members.

“When you select products carrying label ‘Saveurs de Normandie’ you make the choice of quality, diversity and balance of Normandy so as to live tasty, healthy and varied moments,” she told a group of visiting India journalists. As a result of the efforts the region has 110 medal winning products at the annual general agricultural competition, including one third of winning gold medals.

On a question how consumers are made aware Lhommet said each year 65,000 consumer promotional tools are distributed, 7.5 lakh consumers receive multi-brand leaflet, 10 events are organised annually for the general public and 300 promotional kits are given to sales outlets allowing better visibility of products.

Even the producers are aware of the consumers’ preference for liking for organic, natural and local products. They use local organic fertilisers, avoid chemicals and pesticides and sale their products locally. A farm Domaine des Rouges Terres at Bavent in Normandy is a 20 hectare Apple orchids.

“We grow 420 different varieties of apple, about 150 of them are cider apples and over 250 table fruit apple and some varieties of Pears,” said Pascale Desprez, who owns and runs the farm with her husband Eric. The apples are grown using all organic local fertilisers like cow dung.

Two third of their production goes into making ciders, juice, pomme, cider vinegar and calvados and one third is sold as fruits. It is all sold locally, in local nearby markets in a radius of few kilometers, said Desprez. The products are also available for sale at a small shop at the farm where some other “specialties of our region : organic soups, jams, honey, terrines, ice cream, soaps, herbal teas, biscuits etc. are available too,” a proof of the customers’ growing preferences for local and organic and the producers responding to that. The farm also keeps birds and animals for breeding. It has cow, donkeys, pigs, hens, ducks.

Total turnover of the meat products sector is 1.2 billion Euro and of which 66 million Euro is from exports,” said Aparajita Sen, inward investment advisor at AdNormandie, the development agency for Normandy.

Normandy is no 1 region in France for cow milk cheese, having 23 per cent of the nation’s production, butter & cream with 30 per cent of the nation’s production, cider apples & cider products and shellfish.

Speaking about agri-food sector, Sen said with 630 agri-food companies and 830 establishments the region hosts 11% of total agri-food projects in France and earns 6.3 billion Euro in agri products, which is 17 per cent of the region’s total industrial turnover. Nearly 18 per cent of the its earning amounting to 1.1 billion Euro is from the exports of mainly sugar, chocolate, confectionery, tea, coffee, spices, dairy products, meats and beverages with more than 50 per cent of Calvados produced in the region being exported.

It has the longest coastline of 640 kms in France and has five major ports besides good infrastructure of rail, road and rivers. The region also gives stress on organic products with 1400 farms and 600 processors applying organic agriculture.

When on one hand the producers making products using local ingredients keeping in mind the preferences of consumer, on the other side shops, supermarkets and hypermarkets are promoting local products.

Cora, a chain of hypermarkets, celebrating its golden jubilee this year, takes special steps to promote local products. During a visit to one of the outlets it was seen that fresh products like fruits & vegetables from within the radius of 10 Kms were displayed separately as local products. In every sub-section of the foods section including biscuits and chocolates local products are projected by placing them on separate counters. The store does annual contract with the local farmer suppliers.

“The market not only projects local products, it even projects the local producers whose products are displayed,” said Yann Akret, Manager, Food, Cora. Next to each counter of local products placed a display carrying a picture and information of the producer in that category which is kept on changing with regular intervals. Cora has its own bakery in the store to make breads and cakes for which flour from local wheat is used. The huge outlet has 10,000 Sq meter of display area and an equal area of storage.

On a question about the difference between the prices of organic and non-organic products, Akret said prices of organic products are almost double than normal. When asked how many percentage of consumers prefer organic, natural and local products, he said it differs category wise. In case of fruits and vegetables the demand for local is more as consumers want fresh products. In this category, nearly 40 to 45 per cent of their total sell is that of organic and local items. When it comes to other categories like biscuits, chocolates it comes down to 10 to 15 per cent. In some categories the consumers may not necessarily be demanding local products but they are surely very sensitive about natural and organic products.       

When it comes to natural and organic, story is not different even if it is a small shop. La Maison Gosselin, a store in small town of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, Normandy, with 1800 population, has for many years invested in referencing many more natural products. Gosselin has a long history. Set up in 1889 by Clovis Gosselin, the store is being run in its 130^th year by the fourth and fifth generation of the family – Francoise Gosselin and her husband M Bertrand Besselievre and their children. A shop that appears like a normal small shop in any town from outside, opens up like a cave inside with chambers after chambers of food items and wines, having even coffee roasting facility.

“Grocery, dairy, fruit & vegetable, flours, rice, pulses, sauces, madeleines, yogurts, cheeses, cow milks and herbs, teas, or coffees, they all have natural and organic varieties,” said Besselievre. Even soaps, shampoos, body milk and many organic hygiene products are available in the shop along with wines and alcohol drinks cultivated in biodynamics. Besselievre has a large collection of alcoholic drinks, wines from all over the world, having dedicated chambers for each type of drink. Whisky alone has 700 brands in the store for sell. His collection of wines dates back to 1917 and even some bottles from 19^th century. All this of course includes local varieties too like pommeau, calvados, poire etc. The grocery section too has spices from the world and the local varieties.

Besselievre said the store pays lot of attention to sourcing of the items and its transparency for the consumers. “The website of the shop provides the list and details of the local family run businesses which are the suppliers of the store with whom the store has been associated for decades,” said Besselievre and added our consumers can read this information on our website.

Isigny Sainte-Mere, one of the very big dairies in France, also knows the source of the milk it receives each day for making butter, cheese and other products. Isigny-Sur-Mer is cooperative dairy owned by 430 farms run by 650 farmers who supply milk. A very important aspect is they all are from within the radius of 100 Kms. Milk is collected from them in a cycle of 48 hours using the dairy’s own special refrigerated vans. 220 million litres of milk is collected. Total capacity of its milk powder plant is 50,000 tonnes per year soon would be growing to 75,000 tonnes per year.

Its products consist of 16 per cent cheese, 13 per cent butter, 9 per cent cream and 62 per cent milk powder. Each of its product category has an organic variants. The organic products are made exclusively with milks from AB certified organic farms.    

“Operating since 1932, the cooperative dairy exports 62 per cent of its products in 45 countries,” said Simon Frileux, Responsible Marketing & Communication. The dairy is exporting since last 30 years and has four shops in Korea. The total turnover is 373 million Euro.

Frileux told journalists, “We are the biggest manufacturers of infant milk powder, making 5 million bottles of feed each day to feed 2 million babies.” But the dairy does not sells the milk powder under its own brand, it sells it through some other brands.  

“The dairy’s adoption of old artisan know how and using it with modern techniques is unique, for which it has been given a medal by the government for preserving traditional know how,” Frileux said. The cheese or butter is made using traditional know how but using modern machines and technology. The entire processing operation is done with the state-of-the-art machines with human intervention is only at the packaging stage.

Regional chamber of agriculture, Normandy makes efforts to ensure that the region’s supremacy in milk production along with other agri products continues. For that to happen, a professional experimental farm Blanche Maison has been set up by the regional chamber in association with 13 other organisations, associations and chambers to promote new technologies.

“Operating with 80 cows on 25 hectares of land since 1972, various new technologies, ideas and processes are experimented and tested here to disseminate the information to farmers for implementation,” said Laurent Clarys, Director of the experimental farm. Short videos of successful experiments are made to train farmers. Quoting an example of an experiment, he said taking out heat from milk before sending it to cooling plant and then that heat is used for energy. Energy cost is 40 per cent and hence it is necessary to find ways to reduce it. Exchange of heat from milk to water is one such effort.

Bangalore based Stellapps has provided dairy digitisation technology in which censors have been fitted on each animal and plant providing continuous monitoring through a mobile app. Stellapps is working here since 2011, said Ravishankar Shirur, co-founder, Stellapps.  

Out of the 630 agri food companies in Normandy 350 are having more than 10 employees. Among the companies with less than 10 employees is a small Biscuiterie Artisanale de Quinevile which makes specialities biscuits, pies, cakes and chocolates in addition to selection of local products. “We ensure traditional fabrications based on local products,” said Alexis Vermes, CEO, Biscuiterie Artisanale. It makes 15 varieties of biscuits and produces 20 to 30 thousand biscuits per day. A small operation started in 2012 with only one employee, it has now eight employees. It exports biscuits worth Euro 30,000 to Japan each year.

The biscuit makers like the one in Biscuiterie Artisanale are trained in Lempa Laboratorie D’Essais at Rouen cedex, the national institute of bakery and pastry which also hosts national laboratory for bread and pastry. “250 students are admitted to the institute and about 4,000 from all over the word are trained each year,” said Pierre-Tristan Fleury, Director, Lempa.

He said the laboratory tests 1000 samples per year for quality control. Explaining the work of the lab, Fleury said half of the bakers in France suffer due to smelling the flour that settles into their lungs. The lab has developed a test a year back to check if the flour is good for the health of bakers or not.

“Value addition to 70 per cent of French agri production is done by agri food sector,” said Christine Fortin, official representative for South & South East Asia, ministry of agriculture. On a specific question she said keeping the younger generation in agriculture sector was difficult. Hence, special subsidies and incentives have been offered to be a farmer in France.  

In order to exploit its potential and strengths in agriculture and agro food products to further expand and strengthen the agro food business in Normandy, the AdNormandie organisation is offering various incentives for those who wish to set up business in Normandy and specially giving support for the establishment of foreign companies to establish in Normandy. They include even administrative formalities, real estate solutions, partnerships and funds. “Normandy is good for investment because it is close to Paris and London, has optimized road network, pan-European rail connections and four regional airports,” said Sen.

 

Milind Kokje

(The writer was invited by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the French Government to Normandy and local hospitality was provided by the ministry.)