From hive to jar
Our collective project was designed to respect bees, beekeepers, honey, and consumers.
We work at every level of honey production to ensure trust, quality, and excellence!
Responsible production for sustainable beekeeping
In line with our French fair trade certification Agri-Éthique France, we have chosen to guarantee our quality and total traceability approach by committing to common requirements.
These are audited by the independent certifying body Certipaq and formalized in our Progress and Ethics Charter, a pioneer in the beekeeping sector. Every beekeeper commits to sustainable and responsible
production in their region, adopting an environmental mindset by optimizing their travel and technical routines.
Centralization: environmental savings
When founding our Cooperative Les Compagnons du Miel, we wanted to oversee our entire production process, from harvest to jarring.
That is why we created a single packaging facility, Naturalim, located in Port-Lesney in the heart of the forested Jura region. Located across France, we decided to have a single central point to simplify the entire
jarring process, working to streamline the shipment and reception of our honeys at our facility.
At the end of our harvests, regional cooperators organize the grouping of honey barrels at a specific location, usually a member’s honey house.
We gather enough honey to fill a truck, and our Honey Reception Service at Naturalim organizes a transport carrier so that every truck operates at full capacity. This allows us to minimize transport trips and distance!
« The Cooperative project works really well. I love being able to focus on my hives while our Naturalim facility handles the packaging and marketing of my honeys. We offer total trust and seriousness to our consumers because we oversee our entire production. My job is identical to that of market beekeepers: tending my hives and selling my honey direct, all with certified traceability from hive to jar. »
Sébastien, beekeeper Les Compagnons du Miel, in the Gironde region.
Certifications and labels
To guarantee safety and quality, we partner with external certification bodies. Their auditing processes and our ethical commitments are reflected in several certifications and labels.
We have been committed to the French fair trade approach Agri-Éthique since 2020. Recognized as a structuring label for French agricultural supply chains, it guarantees fair compensation for all members.
We pay close attention to our honeys through certifications such as PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), and Organic.
Our packaging facility is IFS certified, an international standard assessing product and process compliance regarding food safety and quality. The IFS Food standard applies to suppliers at all stages
of food processing following the agricultural level.
Our packaging facility is also certified Label PME+, the CSR label for human scale French companies supplying retail chains and committed to ethical practices. The PME+ label is awarded after an
annual audit conducted by Ecocert Environnement according to the ISO 26000 standard.
« We must maintain trust in passionate producers who respect their animals. At the Cooperative, we chose to unite to handle the sale of our production in supermarkets. This further ensures the traceability of our honeys from apiaries to jars while offering a wide range of tastes and textures. »
Emile, beekeeper Les Compagnons du Miel, in the Aube region.
Responsible packaging!
We are implementing new alternatives to increase the recyclability of our packaging and reduce our environmental footprint.
Our suppliers are selected based on quality performance criteria and chosen for their proximity to limit carbon emissions.
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