Where Can I Buy Babybel Cheese and Crackers
Brand of small snack cheese from France
Babybel () is a French brand of small snack cheese products that are individually packaged and available in various flavours. It is a product of Le Groupe Bel (French for 'The Bel Group'), a company with roots in the Jura region of France, started by Jules Bel in 1865.[1] Half of the global production of Mini Babybel is made in Évron, a commune in the northwest of France.[2]
In the United States Le Groupe Bel produces Babybel cheeses in Kentucky.[3] In March 2016, Bel Brands USA opened a new plant in Brookings, South Dakota. At the time, Bel Brands projected that its 250 employees would produce 1.5 million Mini Babybel cheese wheels a day.[4] In July 2018, Le Groupe Bel announced that the company had 12,700 employees in thirty subsidiaries around the world and that their first Canadian office would be in Quebec.[5]
Product [edit]
Mini Babybel is known for its packaging, consisting of a netted bag in which each piece of cheese is encased in a coloured natural paraffin wax skin. Numerous flavors of Mini Babybel are offered across the world.
The red wax encasement being removed from a Babybel cheese
Flavours (with corresponding wrapping colours) [edit]
| Flavour | Colour | References/comments |
|---|---|---|
| Edam | Red (all locations) | |
| Edam "light" | Red with light blue stripe or light blue (Australia, France, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Canada) | Sponsored by WeightWatchers in Canada [6] |
| Cheddar | Black (Canada and United States of America), Orange (Australia), and Purple (Spain, Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) | [7] |
| Emmental | Yellow (Canada – discontinued, Spain, Greece, and Germany) | |
| Gruyere | Yellow (Canada) | [7] |
| Gouda | Brown (United States of America and Canada), Yellow (United Kingdom), and Orange (United States of America, Canada, and Norway) | |
| Mozzarella | Green (Canada, United States of America and Greece) | [7] |
| "Sharp Original" (cheese type unknown) | Magenta (United States of America) | |
| Goat's cheese | Green (United Kingdom and Canada – discontinued, and France) | |
| "High Protein" | Black (Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy) |
Products [edit]
- Babybel Maxi – Edam Only (FR)
- Babybel Tranches – Edam Only (FR, BE)
Mini Babybel [edit]
- Mini Babybel (BE, CA, DE, ES, EE, FI, FR, GR, IT, NL, PL, PT, UK, US, SK)
- Mini Babybel Mini Roulés/Enrollados/Mini Rolls – Edam only (FR, ES, IT)
- Mini Babybel Cheese & Crackers – Edam, Edam Light and White Cheddar (US, GR, PT)
Advertising [edit]
An advertising jingle associated with the product plays on the lyrics of the song "Barbara Ann" by The Regents. Use of said jingle started in France in the end of the 1970s, and then emerged to other parts of Europe and French-Canada by the start of the 1990s. They tout the product as an "always on the go and ready for anything" snack cheese.
As of 2012, a recording of the song "Get in Line" by I'm from Barcelona has been used in their adverts, where the band rerecorded the song with a children's choir. In August 2012, there was controversy over its promotional use of the French slogan "Des vacances de malade mental" ("having a mental holiday", or literally "holidaying like a mentally ill person") which was deemed offensive to people with learning difficulties or mental illnesses.[8] [9]
References [edit]
- ^ "A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT THE BEL SAGA". Le Groupe Bel.
- ^ Robin, Claire (2018-08-08). "Agroalimentaire. Bel voit grand pour son mini Babybel en Mayenne". Ouest-France . Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Hall, Trish (1987-04-22). "American Beckons to Foreign Foods". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ^ "Brookings Mini Babybel cheese plant part of South Dakota push to boost dairies, milk products". foxbusiness.com. 5 March 2016.
- ^ "First Canadian Mini Babybel plant to be built in Quebec | Globalnews.ca".
- ^ "Hungry Girl Goes... In Search of "2 for 1" Snacks (PointsPlus® Bargain Combos!)". www.weightwatchers.com . Retrieved 2019-04-09 .
- ^ a b c "Mini Babybel® : The perfect snack". Babybel UK . Retrieved 2019-04-09 .
- ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (8 August 2012). "Babybel maker apologises for 'clumsy' gaffe". The Guardian (UK) . Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ^ "Campaigners call for Babybel boycott after mental illness 'insult'". The Independent (UK). 9 August 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
External links [edit]
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Babybel. |
- Babybel websites: France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, United States
- Groupe Bel official website
Where Can I Buy Babybel Cheese and Crackers
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babybel