Tereos is a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

conglomerate, primarily active in the processed agricultural raw materials, in particular sugar,

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

markets. The company is headquartered in

Moussy-le-Vieux Moussy-le-Vieux (）) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Moussyssiens''. See also * Moussy-le-Neuf *Communes of the Seine-et-Marne departme ...

, France.

History

In 1932, the

Origny-Sainte-Benoite Origny-Sainte-Benoite () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Origny Abbey was formerly located here. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 Com ...

cooperative

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

was founded in the Aisne department of northern France by a number of farmers under the leadership of Paul Cavenne. The factory processed 400 tonnes of

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet ('' Beta vulgaris''). Together ...

per day. About twenty years later, Jean Duval, managing director of the cooperative, converted the distillery into a

sugar factory A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

, which was able to process 900 tonnes of sugar per day. In the 1990s, the Origny cooperative merged with that of Vic-sur-Aisne, which operate a sugar plant that handled 5,500 tonnes of sugar beet per day. The new entity was named SDA (Sucreries et Distilleries de l’Aisne). A year later, it acquired the Berneuil sugar factory in south-western France. The acquisition of the leading French sugar producer, Béghin-Say from the Italian company Edison, in 2002 marked a turning-point. The combination of the two companies made the new cooperative group a French market leader with 9,500 cooperative growers. Tereos was born. In 2006 Tereos merged with the cooperative group SDHF (Sucreries et Distilleries des Hauts de France). This extended the Group's business and strengthened its leadership on the French market. In 2008 Tereos acquires, via subsidiary Syral, 5 starch and

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, usi ...

factories in West-Europe from Talfiie (Tate & Lyle Food & Industrial Ingredients Europe), subsidiary of the company

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle PLC is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients to industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s it began to diversify, eventually divesting its sugar business i ...

. 2016 saw the Connantre sugar beet cooperative (Tereos Group) join forces with the cooperative, APM Déshy, allowing Tereos to expand its business into alfalfa processing, with four dehydration plants in north-eastern France (in

Anglure Anglure () is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the f ...

, Aulnay-aux-Planches,

Montépreux Montépreux () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following ...

and

Pleurs Pleurs () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following inte ...

). Tereos SCA was created in 2018. The 12,000 cooperative grows now all belong to a single cooperative. In 2021, Tereos was ranked fifth overall on FoodTalks' Top 50 Global Sweetener Companies list.

Activities

The Tereos product portfolio covers the markets of food, animal feed, green chemistry, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, paper and cardboard, and energies.

Controversies

In recent years Tereos has been mired in controversy after several news reports highlighted the company's involvement in a number of dubious events. In 2019, a complaint was filed against the firm for allegedly supplying an artificial sweetener to Syria, where it is being used to make weapons. In 2020 the region of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

accused the company of a leak in its sugar beet refinery, causing 50-70 tonnes of fish to die in the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

territory.Major pollution of Scheldt river came from France
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References

{{Authority control Alcohol fuel producers French companies established in 1999 Food manufacturers of France Cooperatives in France Sugar companies Starch companies Companies based in Hauts-de-France