Metro's Irresistibles chicken products now 100% from Quebec
All chicken sold under Metro’s Irresistibles private label in Metro, Super C and Marché Richelieu stores in Quebec will now be farmed and processed in the province.
Metro made the announcement at an event Thursday marking the first anniversary of its local purchasing policy, which aims to increase the presence of local and regional products in its Quebec stores.
More than 90% of the fresh chicken sold at Metro stores in Quebec already hails from the province, but the new program will guarantee the chicken from Quebec is isolated in the supply and processing chain, says Serge Boulanger, senior vice-president, national procurement and corporate brands at Metro.
READ: Metro’s local purchasing policy is put into practice
Five Irresistibles chicken products, including three Irresistibles Life Smart products, will sport the Aliments du Québec label.
The Irresistibles chicken is air-chilled, preservative-free and corn, barley and oat grain-fed. It’s available in five formats: two breast cuts, whole chicken, drumsticks and thighs.
Chicken is second only to beef in meat sales for Metro, and the Irresistibles line is the chain’s best-chicken seller.
Metro’s local purchasing policy include three pilot projects in which it buys products from suppliers in the Lanaudière, Chaudière-Appalaches and Centre du Québec regions and sells them in nearby stores. To date, the pilot projects have added more than 200 products from 31 suppliers to Metro store shelves
Metro is also increasing its availability of Quebec greenhouse-grown fruits and vegetables, says Marie-Claude Bacon, senior director, corporate affairs at Metro.
READ: Metro Quebec sets out local food policy
This includes a deal to buy the spring production of more than 14,000 kilos of pesticide- and fungicide-free greenhouse strawberries from Les Serres René Fontaine in Drummondville.
It follows on the heels of a pilot project conducted last winter in which Metro’s two upscale Les 5 Saisons grocery stores sold strawberries under the greenhouse’s La Frissonnante brand.
Metro will continue to develop its participation in a program that allows consumers to buy baskets of organic fruits and vegetables grown at nearby farms.
It is increasing the number of drop-off points at participating grocery stores from 14 last summer to 19 this summer. The baskets, containing six to 12 varieties of fruits and vegetables, come from the family farmer network of the environmental group Equiterre.
Surveys show Metro customers consider it increasingly important to buy products from Quebec, says Christian Bourbonnière, senior vice-president, Quebec division of Metro.