Charles Christ - English

Charles Christ is a French family firm which is specialized in canned cooked dishes and condiments. Our food canning factory is located at Connerré, small village in Sarthe (72).

Everything began in 1929, in Alsace (at Krautergesheim), where the present manager’s grandfather manufactured sauerkraut which became our speciality.

Further to the war, the Christ family settled down in Connerré in 1951. Being situated in Sarthe allowed them to get closer to Paris: the firm could benefit from a strategic and logistic axis and from soils which are favourable to the production of cabbages.

The present manager, Gerald Christ, took over the reins of the firm in 1997.

We manufacture not only conventional and organic products at our own brand but also for different customers. We work for large-scale distribution, delicatessens, catering and industry.

In 2007, Mr Christ bought out a little firm in “Loir et Cher “(41), specialized in vegetables processed by appertisation for additional range: Gillet Contres.

Our firm is getting involved in the development of an environmental and human ethic:

• Waste recycling and processing: when it comes out of the factory, the water used in production is pre-processed, methaned and goes towards the local wastewater-treatment plant in order to be entirely cleaned up.
• Within the plant, we do our best upstream to reduce our waste and make selective sorting (cardboard boxes, films, metals).
• To maintain our green spaces we don’t use fossil fuel anymore but two dwarf Billy goats and four Shetland ewes.
• With our producers of cabbages we commit ourselves in a sustainable development process:
  • We call on local farmers (we don’t import cabbages for the manufacture of our Charles Christ sauerkraut),
  • We opt for environment-friendly cultivation: very precise specifications concerning crop rotation, soils checks, recording of water consumptions, use of pesticides, control of fertilizers and conditioners.
• Think about it: eating canned meals is consuming out-of-season products whenever you want, and without negative effect for our planet.
• “From father to son”: this sentence takes all its meaning within our firm which has improved a real family feeling for years. Through the generations, everybody (including management, staff and producers) works for the firm.
• We manufacture all our products in France and try to improve our supplying of raw materials. Moreover we commit ourselves not to use ionized or GMO ingredients.
• When some of our products reach the use-by date (Deadline for Optimal Use for our products), we make a donation of them to local associations.
• We also see that our quality policy is strict and rigorous: Christ firm obtained different certifications between 1996 and today:
  
  

  1996: ISO 9001 certification
  2006: first ISF certification
  Today: ISF5 certification

• Our organic products (manufactured since 1992) are yearly and unexpectedly checked by Ecocert.
• Our Charles Christ sauerkrauts got the certificate of compliance in 2004. The Christ firm is the first one which obtains this certification in the department of canned cooked dishes. It rewards the fruit of several years’ work: the drawing up of rigorous specifications which respect good soil practises. The quality of Charles Christ sauerkraut includes a complete follow-up of the cultivation and the transformation of cabbage to sauerkraut, thanks to a partnership with our local producers who farm all the varieties around the factory.
• Since 2006 we manufactured and are in a position to manufacture halal cooked dishes certified by a mosque (owing to the customer).
  
  So we can meet your specific needs (according to your specifications) as regards condiments (gherkins, capers, pickles, peppers…) and cooked meals (cassoulet, sauerkraut, boiled beef with vegetables…), and all this in small or large packaging (jars ; ½, 4/4, 3/2 and 5/1 tins ; flexible packs, buckets).
  
  For any questions about the firm or our products do not hesitate to contact us.