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Why cheese from Finland
is the right choice
Impact Report
Have you ever considered the impact of buying imported vs. domestic cheese?
Not all cheese is created equal
That’s about 69.9 million kg of cheese per year.
Currently 51% of all cheese consumed in Finland is imported
Explore imported cheese
Germany
Denmark
Sweden
Netherlands
Estonia
France
Italy
Other
Country
23.4
20.7
7.0
6.0
4.5
2.3
1.8
4.3
Million kilos
Cheese imported to Finland in 2018
Buying domestic cheese not only brings money to local communities inside Finland – you can also be assured of a high-quality and responsible product.
The implications
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Percentage of domestic
cheese 
Potential revenue for domestic dairy farms
We’re working hard to make sure that cheese from northern Finland is the most responsible choice.
Kuusamon Juusto
Explore our actions and impacts
Our actions and impacts

Find out what we’re doing to reduce our environmental impact and help local communities to flourish.
Dairy Farms
High quality milk produced with strict code of conduct
Environment
Society
Impacts of domestic supply chain
Decreasing emissions and helping local communities to flourish
Environment
Society
Maximizing efficiency
All of our milk trucks carry the fullest loads possible.
Environment
Renewable energy
Locally produced renewable energy
Environment
Responsible package
New packaging material from renewable sources
Environment
Optimizing efficiency
We optimize the amount of packaging we use and refine our by-products.
Environment
Waste management
Minimizing and treating our waste sustainably
Environment
We help preserve the art of cheese making in Finland.
The milk we use comes from cows that mainly eat grass and GMO-free feed.

The conditions in northern Finland are also well suited for milk production, so we can use more productive land elsewhere for growing food crops.
Environment
Dairy farms
About 67% of our milk comes from dairy farms in the Koillismaa region.
Society
Dairy farms
Simulate
About 67% of the milk we use comes from the Koillismaa dairy farms. This helps us to reduce emissions from transportation.

In 2018, the average transportation distance for raw milk in Finland was 281 km.
Environment
Impact on the domestic supply chain
Environment
Impact on the domestic supply chain
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Number of trips in the region of Koillismaa
The difference in transport emission equals to
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average commute trips
We insist on using domestic products as much as possible – in fact, 98-99.3% of our cheese is made from Finnish raw materials.
Society
Impact on the domestic supply chain
Employment
We are an important employer in northern Finland, helping to keep local communities viable.

80 employees
25 million euros turnover

Our indirect employment impact is 90-100 employees.
Society
Impact on the domestic supply chain
We maximize efficiency by optimizing our shipments to ensure that both the milk trucks entering our factory and the cheese trucks leaving it are as full as possible.
Environment
Maximizing efficiency
All of the steam and heat used in our production process are generated using renewable energy sources.
Environment
Renewable energy
We’re changing our packaging to WestECO Green PE to make sure as much of our plastic as possible comes from renewable sources.

Green PE – green plastic, captures 2.15 kg CO2e/kg from the atmosphere during its production.
Environment
Responsible package
Future Impacts
The impact of our responsible package choice will be

 124,485 kg CO₂

removed from the atmosphere
Environment
Responsible package
We’ve optimized the amount of packaging needed so there is no wasted space – meaning less plastic.

Since we invested in a new cut and pack line, the volume of side streams we produce has decreased significantly. 
Next
Environment
Optimizing efficiency
From our remaining side streams, we process by-products such as lactose and protein powders for our partners. This means that the raw materials are utilized as fully as possible, reducing waste.
Environment
Optimizing efficiency
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In addition, we optimize our packaging to minimize wasted space, using less plastic as a result – when packed tightly, the cheese also stays fresher.
Environment
Optimizing efficiency
Back
Data title
Source:  We’ve reduced the amount of packaging needed so there is no wasted space - meaning less plastic.
Explore Source
We treat all of our wastewater prior to municipal wastewater treatment.
Environment
Waste management
The European dairy sector is continuously working on improving not only its economic performance, but also its long-term sustainability and key to these efforts will be the achievement of the United Nations’ SDGs.
The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)
The dairy sector could be key to ending poverty in all its forms, especially for rural communities, where
agriculture is still very prominent.
No poverty
Dairy is essential in the strive towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving the nutritional
value of diets in a sustainable manner.
Zero hunger
Dairy products can play a key role in ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of people. 
Good health and well-being
Dairy can help ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning, since healthy diets are key to unlocking one’s full learning potential.
Quality education
With many recent developments in the dairy sector geared towards greater circularity and sustainability, they also assist in a more sustainable management of water and sanitation.
Clean water and sanitation
In large-scale dairy operations, anaerobic digestions systems have even been known to produce enough energy to cover internal requirements and even feed back into the public energy grid. These technologies allow the dairy sector to provide truly sustainable energy.
Affordable and clean energy
The European dairy sector provides employment under decent working conditions for many people and continuously contributes to Europe’s economic success.
Decent work and economic growth
The European dairy sector has established a resilient infrastructure, that has come to promote sustainable methods of production and fosters an environment of innovation.
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Dairy products will prove essential when trying to achieve a practical healthy and sustainable diet for everyone.

The European dairy sector plays a vital role in ensuring sustainable production patterns.
Responsible consumption and production
The European dairy sector has been particularly active in recent years in this area and has lowered its climate impact through feed modifications, better manure management and especially through the reductions of dairy cow herds, which has been made possible through increased yields per cow.
Climate action
With dairy productions usually being a land intensive business, the sector plays a key role in the halting and reversing of land degradation.
Life on land
The global dairy sector has solidified the means of implementation and strengthened the necessary partnerships for achieving a sustainable dairy industry.
Partnerships for the goals
For over 60 years we’ve made cheese in Koillismaa, making us the northenmost cheesemaker in Finland.

We’re the second biggest cheesemaker in Finland.
About Kuusamon Juusto
Our factory is located in the middle of the forests of Finland.
About Kuusamon Juusto
If more people buy Finnish cheese, cheese producers would need to buy more Finnish milk. That means we help dairy farms while ensuring that we have high-quality, local food in the future.
Why buy high-quality cheese from northern Finland?
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