Part 1: DAIRY PRODUCTION PROCESS OF PAYSAN BRETON – FROM THE COWS TO YOUR PLATE
1.Milk collection
Milk is collected every two to three days at the dairy farms. The milk tanker driver takes milk samples from every farm to test the quality of the milk and ensure an optimum traceability. The milk tanker calls at a designated number of farms, generally within a radius of 50 to 70km from its central collecting point.
26,000 litres of milk are collected during each round. In total this represents 1.4 billion litres per year, the equivalent of 560 Olympic swimming pools.
After each round the driver delivers the milk to the central collecting point. Each of our seven production sites have their own central collecting point, which receive the milk on a daily basis from the surrounding farms to manufacture Paysan Breton products. The tanker is put through the lorry wash before each round. Once it has been emptied the tank in which the milk is stored is then thoroughly cleaned. Additional samples are taken before the milk is removed. If there is any doubt about the quality of the milk, the tank is reserved and the milk analysed to check if it meets quality standards; if this is not the case a full investigation will be conducted to find the cause of the problem. Any milk not fit for consumption is discarded. However this is very unusual since less than 0.1% per year of milk collected does not meet quality standards.
2.Manufacturing of products
Each Paysan Breton product has its own manufacturing process. Raw milk is skimmed to separate the cream from the milk, and is then pasteurised for food safety reasons. Depending on the product, the milk then goes through different manufacturing stages to be transformed into Butter, Cheese, Fermented Milk, etc. It is also used to make Paysan Breton Crêpes. A series of tests and analyses are carried out throughout the manufacturing process to prevent the risks related to all food production. At the end of the manufacturing process our products are packaged, boxed, put onto pallets and stored.
