'As the dry ingredients division of dairy co-operative Laïta and one of the world’s dairy ingredients experts, Epi Ingredients has been integrating issues linked to quality management, sustainable development and human growth for many years.,' explains Mathieu Lucot, Marketing Manager.
‘Passion du Lait was the next logical step towards a more unified approach to form the basis of the group’s sustainable and corporate responsibility development, also setting concrete targets for the next few years,' he added.
After signing a charter for unified values across the French dairy sector, supported by the French National Federation of Dairy Farmers (FNPL), earlier this year, Laïta recently launched the forward-looking initiative Passion du Lait (Passion for Milk).
This initiative aims to bring together all members of the Laïta network around shared values of progress, transparency and product excellence to better serve today’s and tomorrow’s customers and consumers.
With this new quality management and sustainability programme, the company has set a stage for continuous improvement by offering diversified, responsible and healthy nutrition that consumers can fully trust, while staying true to the co-operative’s vision and preserving the future of French dairy operations.
The programme goes beyond basic quality standards and was built around four major focus areas with specific goals:
- Quality & Safety: for example, ensure 100% Western France origin and enhanced fatty acid profile of the milk collected
- Land & Individual Development: such as substantial investments in regional activities and individual training
- Environmental sustainability: reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020
- Animal Welfare: for example, progressively enhance animal well-being by sharing and implementing new techniques (massaging brushes, music, etc.).
With consumers seeking reassurance and increasingly looking for ‘natural’ as if it was a token of quality, Epi Ingredients’ customers are getting more and more demanding. In this context, Passion du Lait is a useful tool, setting the framework for streamlined operations, efficient supply chain and sustainable milk supply.
The dry ingredients division owns four high-performance industrial facilities, all located in Western France and with no farm more than 100km away from the plant that processes their milk. Keeping full control of the entire value chain from field to fork is how they can offer the highest quality, most natural and safest ingredients possible to fulfil their customers’ needs.
'As a major food producer, we also have a responsibility to contribute to enhance people’s lives with natural and nutritious value-added products and Epi Ingredients is committed to providing sustainable solutions to global health-related challenges,' says Mathieu Lucot.
As such, the company has made substantial investments in marketing, equipment and human resources to support the infant nutrition market, an area in which they can make a difference especially in light of the Passion du Lait initiative, which provides enhanced transparency and product excellence.
Although an isolated corporate initiative, this programme is deeply rooted in renowned and certified quality management systems such as NFV01 007, ISO 9001, IFS, BRC and FSSC 22000, and will also be assessed by a third-party organisation. All of which should contribute to customer reassurance regarding the origin and transformation of the ingredients offered.
