Inspections guaranteeing the quality of our Farmhouse Reblochon

The Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO - French National Appellations Institute) is an official body responsible for recognising Appellations d'Origine, setting production conditions, approving products and ensuring their protection.

INAO inspections

By signing a declaration of aptitude registered by the INAO (French National Appellations Institute), every producer of Farmhouse Reblochon undertakes to adhere to a set of production conditions specified in a decree.

Regular spot inspections are conducted by the INAO and DGCCRF (French General Directorate for competition, consumption and fraud) in order to check that production conditions are being applied (breed, cattle feeding, cheese-making and maturing processes), along with conditions governing the marketing of the product (packaging, labelling).

Organoleptic and analytical qualities are also subject to numerous inspections carried out by a by an approval commission, comprising professionals, experts and consumers.

In the event of a failure to comply with production conditions or cheese quality, the cheese maker is penalised by the INAO and may no longer be allowed to produce Reblochon.

This constitutes a guarantee for consumers.

SIR Technical support

The Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Reblochon (Reblochon Interprofessional Union) offers its members a technical support division. This is intended to advise and assist professionals in mastering the various stages in the traditional cheese-making process with a view to improving product quality.

Mastery of every production stage along with sanitary inspections of cheeses and production facilities includes a better scientific knowledge of the phenomena involved.

For this reason, since its creation, the technical support division has collaborated on a number of scientific research programmes underway in the largest French research centres: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA - French National Agronomy Research Institute), Institut Technique du Fromage Français (ITFF - French Technical Institute for Cheese making), Groupement d'Intérêt Scientifique (GIS - Scientific Interest Group) for the Northern Alps, universities and veterinary schools.

One such research project resulted in the constitution of a strain bank of fermenting agents specific to Reblochon, which is now available to all farm producers and cheese makers.