Wednesday June 25, 2008, will always be an important day in the history of our cooperative. The occaision was Isigny Sainte-Mère's inauguration of the largest woodchip-powered boiler in the French food industry: this milestone event was attended by 200 guests, including Mr Jean-Karl Deschamps, Vice President of the Basse-Normandie regional council, a leading partner in this project. By backing renewable energy, Isigny Sainte-Mère intends to stand out from the crowd and reconcile ecology and economics.
This choice owes nothing to chance: our cooperative is first and foremost an enterprise that strives to be a good citizen, founded on the awareness and respect for our terroir*, which, nestling between the sea and the land, is both unique and actively preserved. Two concrete examples illustrate this strategy in action:
Isigny Sainte-Mère has faced steep rises in energy costs, which have soared by 70% over the past four years. It has two main production sectors: the making of top quality fresh butter, cream, and cheeses is balanced and complemented by the making of skimmed milk powders and infant formula foods. The latter, in particular, uses a lot of energy.
The Isigny Sainte-Mère cooperative could not fail to be attracted by the proposition of meeting its energy needs from woodchip. For a start, biomass was a widely advocated and preferred renewable energy source during the national « Grenelle de l’environnement » environmental summit held at the end of 2007. What is more, as a region, Normandy has a fully operational biomass energy industry, which is perfectly capable of meeting all the current and future needs of our business.
Manufactured in Brazil, this biomass installation is a real triumph of technology. It is completely automated, notably in its woodchip feeding system. It has the capacity to raise 20 tonnes of steam an hour at a temperature of 236°C and a pressure of 30 bars, and it can do this round the clock, seven days a week. It also replaces the previous gas and heavy fuel boilers which we had been using up until now.
The benefits of this installation are many and varied.
At an environmental level, Isigny Sainte-Mère is contributing to society's efforts to meet the challenges of climate change, both today and tomorrow, by meeting both current and future targets for emissions. This project is in phase with the requirements of the Kyoto protocol and France's stated wish to cut the country's CO2 emissions by four before 2050. Our cooperative is meeting this requirement 40 years ahead of its target date, by cutting its CO2 emissions from 22,000 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes a year, a reduction equivalent to the emissions of 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles in a year.
Another environmental benefit is that the installation includes a condensate recovery circuit, allowing water to be recovered while drying infant powder milks. This « cow water » can be returned to the process as steam and allows us to save 15,000 cubic metres of water a year: this is 15,000 cubic metres of water that we no longer need to draw from the spring.
Finally, the ashes from burning the wood, mixed with the waste mud from our water treatment station could well give us a natural fertilizer. Our cooperative, in partnership with the French environmental agency DRIRE, is carrying out agronomic studies on the feasibility of this project.
The economic benefits are just as important.
Firstly, the 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of woodchip that Isigny Sainte-Mère will consume every year constitutes a major outlet for Normandy's biomass energy sector. This woodchip, which will be guaranteed untreated wood, will also generate about 10 jobs. The industry will be able to recover and add value to wood from three sources:
Wood will be procured within a 100 kilometre radius of Isigny.
For the business, despite the heavy initial investment, the choice of biomass is a forward-looking strategy. By securing its biomass energy needs for the next 10 years, Isigny Sainte-Mère is freeing it processes from oil and gas which are increasingly expensive and increasingly rare.
It also strengthens our hand in our positioning and our communication with clients and customers alike. Many of them are already sensitive to the environmental impact of the products they sell or consume. Consumer habits are moving towards a greater respect and awareness of the environment.
The inauguration of this boiler is also a proud day for our enterprise and exerts a unifying influence on the men and women who work for it.
*Terroir: an untranslatable French term for the harmonious relationship between human enterprise and nature that ensures the very best conditions for a very specific range of local food and drink specialities.
**Agriconfiance: French government accreditation scheme for responsible farming.
Two years after our successful 'Pearl of Normandy' marketing campaign, Isigny Sainte-Mère is launching a new set of 4m by 3m posters entitled 'All of Isigny is in Isigny Sainte-Mère'.
Three striking visuals have been created around our Camembert, our AOC butter and our AOC crème fraîche. They communicate the values of our co-operative - tradition, quality and taste, while being creative and innovative at the same time.
The poster campaign will appear several times this year in different French regions, starting with Normandy during this month of May! You may well spot us in Alençon; Bayeux; Caen; Cherbourg; Coutances; Granville; Le Havre; Lisieux; Rouen and Saint Lô.
To enjoy our products, you'll find that they are sold in the appropriate shops near any of the poster sites.
From February 24th to 27th the Paris cheese and dairy show, the Salon du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers, will be held at the Porte de Versailles exhibition complex in Paris. This biennial
meeting for dairy industry professionals will be held as part of the Salon de l'Agriculture, France's largest food and farming show. It is a national meeting for cheesemakers and farm-based dairy
producers on one hand and their customer base on the other, such as retailers, wholesalers, major retail buyers of all descriptions and importers.
As in 2008, Isigny Sainte-Mère will be exhibiting at this show, which all dairy professionals have adopted as an important occasion to meet. For us, it is both an occasion to meet our customers and introduce the treasures of signy terroir to a wider public. Our
terroir is a uniquely rich environment and microclimate, which, combined with our co-operative's dairy know-how, sustains the excellence of our tradition. This is what makes our Isigny Camembert, Pont L'Evêque, Isigny AOC Butter and Crème Fraîche, not to mention our Matured and Extra Matured Red Label Mimolette, so special.
We look forward to meeting you from February 24th at the Isigny Sainte-Mère stand situated in Hall number 8, Aisle D, stand number 1.
Here is a message for gourmet cheeselovers in need of inspiration: the Isigny Sainte-Mère co-operative has launched its Isigny Little Luxuries range. These compact little treasures are smooth, sumptuous and temptingly original. Warning: the pleasure of eating these cheeses will melt even the hardest of hearts.
Isigny Sainte-Mère’s wide range of classic cheeses is ripened to perfection and represents the best of Normandy. The co-operative has been pleasing the palates of discerning cheeselovers for years with its range of traditional dairy products and distinctive cheeses. But the co-operative has to move with the times and attend to changes in society and developments in gourmet culture. So the cheesemakers have come up with three new products, full of flavour, but smooth and mild, which inspire fresh ideas for cheese and will tempt people to keep on trying them... all day long!
Isigny Sainte-Mère’s smooth ways...
These are three original recipes, inspired mainly by the Normandy co-operative’s know-how : Isigny’s Little Luxuries are carefully made from Normandy’s best milks, recognised the world over for their exceptional richness in cream, protein and vitamins. These three cheeses will fit in with everything else on the table and will allay any lingering fears of overpowering flavours. Isigny’s Little Luxuries will grace any cheese board, looking the part and adding their own original touch. During the day, they are just right for filling in any hungry little gap.
The labels for Isigny’s Little Luxuries sport vivid colours and cheerful little drawings, which break the traditional notions of cheese packaging. This alone makes them stand out, promising pleasurable moments in good company.
Isigny’s Little Luxuries are intended for those who love small treats: families or children. Here is a good opportunity for young palates to get used to a range of cheese flavours. The range is also suited to older youngsters, those living alone, not to mention those who want to avoid buying large quantities of cheese and who also want to vary their pleasures.
Make a meal with Isigny’ Little Luxuries!
Unexpected friends for dinner? With Isigny’s Little Luxuries and a little bit of imagination there is no need to panic!
You need look no further than the contents of your fridge and turn out an impromptu salad on the spur of the moment. You will be able to cheerfully mix salad leaves, seasonal fruit, bits of meat... and top them with attractive skewers of cheese cubes that are so easy to do with Isigny’s Little Luxuries.
You can alternately thread cubes of Mild Pavé and individual grapes on skewer, or Creamy Camembert and dried figs or even slices of apple. Serve slices of Tender-hearted Square on slices of rustic bread, lightly grilled and topped with ground hazelnuts and a trickle of honey. Serve these little delicacies with a chilled Normandy cider or perry. It is that easy, festive and suits all tastes. And the party can start!
Isigny’s Little Luxuries are on sale until Christmas 2007.
They have guide prices 2 euros per cheese.
Stop press
Since 2006, Normandy’s regional food promotional body, the Comité d’Expansion Agroalimentaire de Normandie, has been rewarding new products with trophies for the region’s most innovative food companies. For its second year, the committee, working alongside its retail partners Auchan, Carrefour and Intermarché, awarded its Prize for Innovation and Marketing 2007 to the Isigny Sainte-Mère dairy co-operative for Isigny’s Little Luxuries, for presenting cheese in a new way.
Just remember that this judging panel for regional specialities retained the top 10 product innovations. These then went forward for tasting and sampling by a consumer panel. So Isigny’s Little Luxuries underwent a critical examination twice, they were assessed twice and marked twice: they passed with flying colours, earning three awards for culinary art; snacking and marketing.
