Exploring the Candia Professional brand

Feb 26 2026

Candia Professional is a brand that values authenticity and expertise. As a brand of Sodiaal, the premier French dairy co-operative, it provides dairy solutions for professionals in the food service industry. And alongside the high-quality French cheeses that Sodiaal is famous for, Candia Professional delivers premium butters, creams and cream cheeses which have been developed with the same specialist skills and insight.

Our values at Candia Professional

Just like Sodiaal French cheeses, Candia Professional dairy products are made using 100% French milk which is collected from local farmers who are passionate about our systems and authenticity. We want our products to inspire ideas and creativity, but our values include:

Boldness – We have an entrepreneurial outlook, which combines with a collective strength to trigger ideas that are bold and progressive.
Respect – We respect each other as colleagues, we respect our animals and we respect the land we use. This is the basis for sustainable methods which deliver quality and authenticity.
Transparency – Everything we do can be seen and traced back to its origin. We don’t hide anything and we think it is important that you can see what we do and why we say what we say.
Solidarity and equity – The backbone of a cooperative is solidarity and equity. We share everything as equals and are proud of the model we have built.

La Route du Lait – our quality system

Our values, as outlined above, all combine to help develop and maintain the pioneering approach with which we produce our best quality milk and dairy products. La Route du Lait is a quality system which all our 12,541 Sodiaal farms must comply with. This is based on human solidarity, milk traceability, animal welfare, environmental protection and a sustainable farming model. There are 78 elements to the Route du Lait quality system and all our farms are audited against these once every three years. This ensures ongoing compliance but also drives a commitment to continual improvement. Our quality system puts us in total control of the production process and the supply chain, meaning we can ensure quality and reliability from farmers to chefs and to your customer’s tables.

Furthermore, we drive innovation by using marketing teams and research and development experts to go into the field and speak to chefs and professional food service specialists. This way we know that our products meet the needs of those at the sharp end of delivering exceptional standards in French cuisine.

Part of the number one French dairy cooperative

Candia Professional is a brand of Sodiaal, which was created over 50 years ago and has developed into one of the major global dairy companies. It produces around 4.71 billion litres of milk each year and has 70 industrial sites. Our commitment to authenticity insists that our milk is collected from French farms only, and we have dairies in regions all over France. These strong values and commitments have led to our dairy products being sold in more than 80 countries internationally.

Authentic dairy products

Dairy farming began in France more than 3,000 years ago and we think it is important that the benefits offered by France’s fertile land and accommodating climate are carried on today. Our rich grass pastures provide high quality, rich and pure milk, which contribute to the consistent production of exceptional quality butters, creams and cream cheese. Candia Professional has built upon centuries of traditional expertise to develop a range of dairy products which enhance all areas of French cuisine, including sauces, pastries and desserts. Our product range includes Incorporation butter, puff pastry butter, salted and unsalted butter, signature whipping cream, UHT cooking cream, UHT cook and whip cream and whole milk.

We know that our products enable the best French chefs to master complex techniques, deliver endless creativity and at the same time, produce a level of consistency and quality which is befitting of the best cuisine in the world. Candia Professional can point to brand ambassadors who enjoy an exalted status in their profession as some of the world’s leading chefs, and we think that says everything about the standards and authenticity our brand is committed to.