Farmhouse and Artisan Cheese and dairy producers’s European network

What began in 2006 as an exchange of practical information among german and french farmhouse cheesemakers continues to develop further into a European farmhousecheese network. During the International Goat Convention in France in September 2009 all of the representatives from France, Italy, Germany and Canada agreed that the cooperation should be expanded further.

Since then, farmhouse and artisan cheese makers from several European countries have been working together on areas of common concern such as sanitary regulation, preservation of traditional knowledge, the exchange of experiences, difficulties for small scale dairies and the need for flexibility in the application of regulation. Consequently, FACEnetwork association was created in 2013 with the objective to represent and defend the interests of farmhouse and artisan cheese and dairy producers on a national and European level.

So far, our organisation has gained the support of farmhouse and artisan cheese and dairy producers, technical and research centres, farmers associations, laboratories, veterinaries and sanitary authorities from 15 countries within Europe.

Lobbying actions

FACEnetwork keeps up to date on regulations concerning our sector and develops and disseminates common positions towards European institutions. Recent topics have been:

• Nutritional labelling: position paper and meeting at DG Sanco in 2013
• Labelling of milk origin: position paper in May 2015 and work with other organisations through CDG quality and promotion
• Conference “Flexibility” organized in Milan in June 2015 by DG SANTE
• Regulation concerning STEC: common work actually in progress
• Farmhouse and Artisan Cheese and dairy producer’s European Guide for Good Hygiene Practices endorsed in December 2016 and available on EU-Commission website

Since August 2014, FACEnetwork holds one seat each in the two Civil Dialog groups (CDG) “Milk” and “Quality & Promotion” of European Commission (DG Agri). CDG have to fulfil a role of assistance to the Commission in a regular dialogue by bringing about an exchange of experiences and good practise, advising on policy and monitoring policy development.

The notion of “flexibility” is now integrated in all the training programs of “Better Training for Safer Foods”, a training program of DG Sanco for national sanitary inspectors.

For more information view:
www.face-network.eu/lobbying
www.face-network.eu/cdg
www.face-network.eu/projects

Working groups

Within our four work groups, Hygiene, Technology, Marketing and Goat Meat, exchanges of experience and leading of common projects are realized.

A guide for good hygiene practices is currently developped to provide a reference document helping the producers to fullfil European Regulation (Paquet Hygiene) as well as to provide practical references regarding flexibility.

A European wide and EU co-financed promotion campaign « Discover Farmhouse Dairy & Cheese » is still running in three member countries (Netherlands, Ireland, Germany).

A cheese defect database has been created helping producers to identify cheese defects and introduce them to possible corrective measures.

A European recipe book processing goat meat has been published in order to improve the marketing of goat meat.

For more information view: www.face-network.eu/workgroups

Annual meeting

Each year European cheesemakers and dairy producers meet in a differnt country to enjoy a three-day congress, including farm visits, a conference and discussions within the four workgroups.

For more information view: www.face-network.eu/meeting

Our Structure

The Council Board consists of the FACEnetwork president, three vice presidents and a treasurer. Additionally, there are two secretaries.

Presidents: Frédéric Blanchard (France)
Vice presidents: Kerstin Jürss (Sweden), Remedios Carrasco Sánchez (Spain), Miroslaw Sienkiewicz (Poland)
Treasurer: Marc Albrecht-Seidel (Germany)

Secretaries: Yolande Moulem (overall organisation, project coordination);
Katharina Heigl (member support, website)

How to apply for a membership?

Below you find an application form, which we would like you to fill in and return to us via email (info@face-network.eu). Please decide, which membership category corresponds with you or your association and shortly explain your decision.

After acknowledgement by our Council, you will receive access to our web page with all recent news and relevant information as well as a monthly newsletter.

For any question, please don’t hesitate to contact us!