![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
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The Quebec cheese brand OKA, with a history spanning more than 130 years in the province, is being sold to the French group Lactalis, one of the world’s largest players in the cheese industry.<\/p>\n
Agropur, the Quebec co-operative that owned OKA until recently, is selling its fine cheese division.<\/p>\n
According to Lactalis Canada’s news release, it will acquire two production facilities in Oka and Sainte-Hyacinthe, Que., and add around 400 employees to its 4,500 team across the country.<\/p>\n
“We are committed to preserving the authenticity and quality of these award-winning brands,” Lactalis Group chairman Emmanuel Besnier wrote.<\/p>\n
“This extends to being an active member of the Oka and Sainte-Hyacinthe communities… and contributing meaningfully to the people and places that have shaped these beloved brands.”<\/p>\n
Guillaume B\u00e9rub\u00e9, director of communications at Agropur, explained that though it wasn’t an “easy decision,” it was a “well-thought-out” one. <\/p>\n
“We fully understand that this morning’s news might provoke some reactions, particularly regarding OKA cheese,” B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said on Radio-Canada’s Tout un matin. <\/p>\n
But B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said employees will keep their jobs. He also pointed out that Lactalis is well established in Canada and has strong expertise in the field of fine cheeses.<\/p>\n
He added that the fine cheese market has become “very competitive” and that Agropur’s goal is to strengthen its competitiveness. <\/p>\n
B\u00e9rub\u00e9 noted that a shift toward proteins is underway in the industry and that the co-operative wishes to concentrate its efforts in this sector.<\/p>\n
According to him, fine cheese production only accounted for two per cent of revenue and two per cent of the milk Agropur processed.<\/p>\n
Workers ‘kind of happy’ about move<\/p>\n
Created in 1893 by Brother Alphonse Juin, a French master cheesemaker who settled in a Trappist community in Oka, Que., OKA cheese played a major role in ensuring the survival of the financially struggling monks in this area, according to Histoire Qu\u00e9bec\u00a0and Fromages d\u2019ici. <\/p>\n
The cheese became an award-winning, semi-firm culinary staple famous for its fruity flavour and medium intensity. Its recipe was sold to Agropur in 1981. <\/p>\n
![\"Roxane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784155336_527_default.jpg\")
Roxane Larouche, spokesperson for the union representing the workers impacted by the decision, says though it came as a surprise, they’re ‘kind of happy about it.’ (Karine Mateu\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n
Roxane Larouche, spokesperson for TUAC Quebec \u2014 the union representing the workers \u2014 said though the move came as a surprise, people are “kind of happy about it because Lactalis is known as a good company.”<\/p>\n
“There’s a sentiment of security about it… They didn’t announce any cuts,” she said.<\/p>\n
“So far, there’s no alarm yet about this. We just need to learn how the new owner will be with the employees.”<\/p>\n
The only potential challenge she foresees is that employees at the Saint-Hubert distribution centre \u2014 which, she says, Agropur wants to keep in order to distribute its other products \u2014 may have to relocate once Lactalis has found a new facility.<\/p>\n
Gilles Jourdenais, a cheesemonger at Fromagerie Atwater, believes the cheese has lost some of its lustre and that, while the sale is unfortunate, this decision could help give OKA cheese a boost.<\/p>\n
“I think Lactalis will bring a new energy and maybe a new marketing,” Jourdenais said.<\/p>\n
The sale still needs clearance from Canada\u2019s competition bureau before it can be finalized. <\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time that Lactalis has acquired a Quebec product from Agropur. In 2020, Lactalis Canada acquired the I\u00f6go yogurt brand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-765153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}