It's a ritual for some. Pinched between your thumb and index finger, the little aluminum foil does not hold up for long, revealing the little white pad. Undressing a piece of Kiri was a sound, a touch, to which fans of the little French cheese were attached. Not for long. According to information from Capitalthe Bel brand which produces the famous Kiri plans to stop using aluminum foil. The announcement does not only concern the square format, but ultimately the Laughing Cow triangle and the Boursin circle, for example.
Very well known to the French, these industrial cheeses have used the same packaging process for years: a thin layer of aluminum for each portion and a cardboard box to transport them. During a visit to its research and development center in Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher), the family business born in 1865 in the Jura announced that it was working on new packaging made from recycled and recyclable paper. for its Kiri brand.
Will customers like it?
Tests will be carried out in the coming months. “Depending on feedback, it will be deployed in stores from 2026”, informed the general director of Bel Cécile Beliot, to our colleagues at Capital.
French law will require food professionals to eliminate non-recyclable packaging by 2030. Several tens of millions of euros of investment will undoubtedly be necessary to replace the machines used for packaging. A challenge that clearly does not scare the French company, which employs more than 11,000 people around the world in the 32 countries where it is present. In 2023, it achieved a turnover of 3.6 billion euros, up 6% year-on-year.
