Paris, France — It is the final leg of the Tour de France with the world renowned bicycle race finishing up on the Champs-Elysées. But before the riders come into view, a phenomenon typical of the Tour emerges, the famous caravans or floats of the race’s partners and official suppliers. Traditionally they hand out their products to an expectant crowd. So to wind up the Tour we pay tribute to one of the Tour’s most colorful partners, the saucisson or dried pork sausage specialist Cochonou (cochon means pig in French), which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

During the Tour the seven caravans of the house — including Citroën’s mythical 2CV cars — distributed eco-friendly goodie bags with the famous red and white checkered bucket hat and carryall bags made from recycled material. The fans along the route of the Tour de France were also able to stop in at one of Cochonou’s dried sausage bars to sample freshly sliced products. Cochonou’s mini dried sausages, which are also handed out during the Tour, are wrapped in recyclable packaging.

The house is celebrating its 25th participation in the Tour this year while making a clear commitment to sustainable development. The brand also contributes to a reforestation project, Reforest-Action, and has promised to plant 120 trees in Job in the Puy-de-Dôme, which is surrounded by a regional nature park. For the past five decades the house has produced its famous dried sausages in the village of Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise in the Rhône region, regarded as one of the leading dried sausage producing regions in France.

The house uses only pork that is raised and processed in France where it works to improve the well-being of the farm animals on the farms with which it works in concert as a Cooperative and Cochonou’s three leading dried sausage products contain no preservatives. The house is aiming for completely recyclable packaging by 2030 and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Cochonou is part of the Aoste group, known for its gourmet hams and high quality cold cuts.
©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
https://www.cochonou.fr/