FAQ

Our product doesn’t have a best before date because they are shelf-stable for more than 3 months, all of our product have a lot number that is the production date. It read this way : The first 2 numbers are the year, then the month, day and hour. The other numbers are for traçability. Be aware that - an unbleached white flour is good for 18-24 month -  A whole flour 9-12 month - The flakes are good 6 to 9 month - The pulse and grains are good for more than 2 years, be aware that the older they are, the longer they will need to soak water. - The best way to store flour is in the original bag in a cold dry place, if you don’t use flour that much, in a tight container, you can keep flour for many years in the freezer. Flour absorbs odour and humidity, so keep it away from the refrigerator and from any place that is hot and humid.  

Unfortunately, we do not offer online sales or direct ordering.

For our 20 kg you can now buy from CGM Foods on their online site please be aware that they have our full line. Here is the list of the different merchants who offer our products online, please note that we do not know the status of their stock and the availability of their offer. La Boîte à grains  Mayrand IGA Metro  Avril (pick up in-store)

Often bakery recipes make recommendations on % protein for a recipe. To get the idea of the % protein in our flours we must take the protein data from the nutrition facts table, divide it by the serving size and multiply it by 100. For example, our all-purpose organic white unbleached flour with 7 g of protein for a serving size of 60 g. 7/60 x 100 =11.66% protein

According to the regulations of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, products with a shelf life greater than 90 days do not need to be marked with an expiry date or storage information, since these products are considered non-perishable.

However, in the spirit of keeping consumers informed of how long our products stay fresh, we have prepared the following table to help you learn more about the shelf life of our different products. Note that a product can still be consumed if it is a few days (or even a few months) past its indicated shelf life.

PRODUCT - SHELF LIFE
Organic Whole Oat Groats: 730 days
Organic Steel-Cut (Scottish style) Oat Groats: 270 to 365 days
Organic Sifted Wheat Couscous: 270 to 365 days
Organic cream of cereals: 270 to 365 days
Organic unbleached white flour (wheat, Khorasan, spelt, etc.): 365 to 547 days
Organic whole flour (wheat, Khorasan, spelt): 270 to 365 days
Organic sifted flour: 270 to 365 days
Organic puslses: 730 days
Organic flakes: 180 to 270 days
Grains (wheat, spelt, Khorasan, etc): 730 days
Organic whole sesame seeds: 547 days
Organic Hulled Sunflower Seeds: 180 to 270 days
Organic Golden and brown Flax Seeds: 365 to 547 days
Organic lentils: 730 days
Organic budwix mix: 180 to 270 days
Organic Chickpeas (garbanzo): 730 days
Semolina (corn, wheat, etc.): 270 to 365 days
Bran (wheat, oat, spelt, etc.): 270 to 365 days


Check the lot number on the package to determine the date when the product was made.

A lot number is printed on the packaging of every one of our products. This ensures complete traceability for all of our products, as it indicates the exact date and time when a given product was manufactured. The lot number reads as follows:

Lot : 1905031415

The two first number refers to the year of manufacture, the next two the month of manufacture, then the day of manufacture and the last four numbers refers to the time of manufacture.

So the lot number presented above informes us that the product was made at 2:15pm on May 3rd, 2019.

There’s no better way to determine whether your flour is still good than by simply testing it. We recommend that you replace your flour if it has a rancid odour or taste.

La Milanaise is committed to developing the organic farming sector in Quebec, which is why we always prefer to buy locally whenever we can. Unfortunately, the availability of organic cereal grains in Quebec is very limited. For this reason, certain varieties of La Milanaise grains must be sourced from outside of Quebec. Since encouraging the local economy and reducing the environmental impact of our activities is very important to us, we have established programs specially designed for Quebec farmers in order to guide them in their transition from conventional agriculture to organic agriculture. The goal of these programs is to improve the range of organic cereal grain options and their availability in Quebec.

For our flours, we do give consumers the option to order in larger quantities. We offer our all-purpose unbleached organic white flour in a 10 kg size at certain Costco stores. In addition, certain types of flours are available in 20 kg formats by special order through independent grocers.

You can order larger quantities from an independent grocer. An independent grocer is one that is not associated with a major chain like IGA, Metro, Loblaws, Provigo, etc. For the most part, these are natural food stores like Rachelle-Béry, Avril, Tau, or Panier Santé.
Please refer to our Points of sale section to find an independent grocer near you if you would like to order larger quantities. You will have to contact the responsible person at your grocery store and ask them to place a special order for you. You’ll need to tell the person which product you want and the quantity you want to order, and they will then place the order for you. Once the product arrives at the store, your grocer will contact you so that you can come to pick up your product.

The packaging for our flours is 100% compostable. It is made from biodegradable paper and printed with water-based inks. As for our packages that include a plastic film to let consumer see the product inside, these packages are also compostable, but you must remove the plastic film before putting them in the compost bag. The plastic film is recyclable.

In order to understand the differences between types of flour, you must first be familiar with the different components of a grain.

Bran: Bran is the grain’s protective coating. Bran is high in fibre and contains B vitamins.
Starch: Starch contains proteins and carbohydrates.
Germ: The germ is high in fat as well as B and E vitamins. It contains all the essential elements for the growth of a future seedling.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FLOUR:
White flour: A white flour is a flour from which all the bran has been removed, leaving only the starch behind.

Sifted flour: A sifted flour consists of the starch of the grain, much like a white flour, as well as a bran component. In sifted wheat flour, the smallest brans are mixed together with the starch. It therefore contains more fibre than white flour, while still maintaining a lighter texture than whole-grain flour. Because bran absorbs liquids, you must use slightly more liquid in your recipes than when working with white flour.

Whole-grain flour: A whole-grain flour consists of the starch of the grain, the bran and the germ. It is more nutritious than white or sifted flour. This type of flour will give your recipes a darker colour and a more pronounced flavour. You will have to add more water to your dough when working with whole-grain flours, since bran absorbs liquids.

Integral whole-grain flour: Integral whole-wheat flour includes every part of the grain: the bran, the starch, and the wheat germ. The entire grain is ground into flour.

An unbleached flour is one that has not been bleached with chemical bleaching agents. White flours are not naturally pure white; they typically have more of a yellowish or beige colour, due to the colour of the grain. Some companies bleach their flours to be whiter in colour. These companies usually use substances like chlorine or chlorine dioxide. La Milanaise brand white flours are not bleached, so their colour is more beige than white, and they do not contain any bleaching agents.

In Canada, the law requires the addition of vitamins and minerals to white flours only. Thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and iron are added, in accordance with the law of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Each flour has its own specific taste, aroma, and range of uses. This table will help you to decide which types of flours are best for your cooking and baking projects.

	Bread	Muffin	Pie crust	Cake	Cookies	Pasta
Organic Unbleached White Spelt Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Unbleached White Khorasan Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic All Purpose Unbleached White Flour	X	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Unbleached White Pastry Flour		X	X	X	X
Organic Unbleached White Red Fife Flour	X	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Whole Oat Flour		X		X	X
Organic Whole Spelt Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Sifted Wheat Bread Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Sifted Wheat Pastry Flour		X	X	X	X
Organic Whole Wheat Bread Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Integral Whole Wheat Bread Flour	X
Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour		X	X	X	X
Organic Whole Khorasan Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Whole Corn Flour		X		X	X
Organic Whole Buckwheat Flour		X		X	X
Organic Whole Rye Flour	X	X		X	X
Organic Whole Brown Rice Flour		X		X	X
Organic Six Grain Flour		X		X	X
Organic Whole Sorghum Flour		X	X	X	X
Organic Whole Red Fife Flour	X	X	X	X	X
Organic Durum Wheat Semolina	X					X

Each country uses its own system to designate the different types of flours. In France, as in Italy, flours are designated with a “T” system. They are classified according to their ash content, which corresponds to the quantity of minerals that are present in the flour. Use this conversion chart to find the equivalence in terms of French flours for La Milanaise brand products.

MILANAISE FLOUR	T EQUIVALENT
Organic Unbleached White Pastry Flour	T50
Organic All Purpose Unbleached White Flour	T55
Organic Tipo '00' Pizza Flour	T55
Organic Unbleached White Spelt Flour	T55
Organic Unbleached White Red Fife Flour	T55
Organic Unbleached White Khorasan Flour	T60
Organic Sifted Wheat Pastry Flour	T100
Organic Sfted Wheat #50 Bread Flour	T110
Organic Whole Oat Flour	T150
Organic Whole Barley Flour	T150
Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour	T150
Organic Whole Red Fife Flour	T150
Organic Six Grains Whole	T150
Organic Whole Spelt Flour	T165
Organic Whole Wheat Bread Flour	T165
Organic Whole Khorasan Flour	T165
Organic Whole Corn Flour	T165
Organic Whole Brown Rice Flour	T165
Organic Whole Buckwheat Flour	T165
Organic Whole Rye Flour	T165
Organic Whole Sorghum Flour	T165
Oeganic Integral Whole Wheat Bread Flour	T185

There are a number of ways to transform cereal grains into flour. The two most popular methods are stone grinders and steel cylinders. Both methods yield the same nutritional value and the same way of working with the product. Stone-ground flours will tend to absorb more liquid because this method does more damage to the grain’s starch. It is also important to look out for false absorption with stone-ground flours. Cylinder-ground flours, on the other hand, do less damage to the grain's starch. Cylinder grinding also allows for better control in terms of the final product’s stability, which results in a more consistent product.

La Milanaise takes the quality of its products very seriously. We make every effort to offer you products of exceptional quality. If your product does not meet your expectations, please send your complaint to the following address: info@lamilanaise.com. It will be our pleasure to correct the situation quickly.

Consumers are increasingly interested in organic products. They pay careful attention to what they eat, and they prefer foods that are healthy and environmentally friendly. Organic products have a number of advantages.

La Milanaise performs a wide range of tests before, during and after the transformation process in order to ensure the quality and stability of its products. We test the quality of our grains before grinding them. We make sure that the grains are healthy, and that they have all the necessary properties to produce a high-quality flour. Once grinding is complete, our lab team takes a sample from each product batch. Analyses are carried out on each of these samples to confirm their quality.

In Canada, the Food and Drugs Act and its implementing regulation stipulate that all white flours sold in Canada must be enriched with vitamins and minerals. White flour must contain thiamine, riboflavin, niacin or niacinamide, folic acid and iron. For more information on this subject, see the following page:

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/labelling/food-labelling-for-industry/grain-and-bakery-products/unenriched-flour/eng/1415915977878/1415915979471

For unbleached white flours sold in the United States, enrichment is not required. Therefore, La Milanaise offers unbleached and unenriched white flours, available only for the United States market. For more information on this product, click the following link: Victoria Flour

La Milanaise works in partnership with its distributors. Their mandate is to take our customers’ orders and to ensure their prompt delivery. In Quebec, two distributors handle our entire product portfolio: Rudolph and Farinex.

La Milanaise does not know the sales prices for our products as sold by these distributors. Therefore, we invite you to contact them to learn about sales prices and delivery conditions.

Rudolph 2000
4625 rue d’Iberville, Montreal (QC), H2H 2L9
1 (800) 268-1998
info@ventesrudolph.com
http://www.ventesrudolph.com/en/

Farinex
3780 rue La Vérendrye, Boisbriand (QC), J7H 1R5
(450) 268-7077
info@farinex.com
http://www.farinex.ca/nutrition/

Our products are certified organic, organic certification prohibits the use of glyphosate and any application of chemical pesticides. It is forbidden for our suppliers to use glyphosate in their culture.

Over 10 tonnes. Note that the price does not include delivery, since our rates are ex works. We also ask that you respect our terms of payment, which are net 30 days.

La Milanaise works in partnership with its distributors. Their mandate is to set prices for our products based on various criteria. We invite you to contact our distributors to obtain prices.

Here is the procedure for obtaining certificates of analysis on our website.

• First, from the home page, go to the Customer Area section.
• If you haven't already, create an account.
• Once the account is created, you have access to the client area and select the analysis certificates.
• Choose the product for which you wish to have the certificate of analysis.
• Select the lot #.

The best way to store flour is in a sealed container, stored in a cool dry place and away from the light.
Another way to store flours is to place your product in a sealed jar in the freezer.
Storing flour in the refrigerator is not recommended, because flour absorbs moisture easily, which may cause it to turn rancid more quickly.

La Milanaise has two production facilities. One in Milan, in the Eastern Townships, and one in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The types of allergens depend on the place where the products were made. The allergens present at the Milan plant are wheat (gluten) and sesame. At Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, the only allergen present is wheat (gluten). We have a team dedicated to managing allergens, who have put strict measures in place to ensure that the products you buy are safe. Minimizing the risk of allergens in our production facilities and in our products. A table listing the risk of each allergen is made available for every La Milanaise brand product. You can consult the fact sheet for the product you’re interested in.

It is important to bear in mind that there is cross-contamination with wheat for all of our products, since our products are manufactured in an environment that contains wheat. However, certain types of grains do not contain gluten, including rice, corn and buckwheat. In addition, certain grains are more digestible than wheat because the type of gluten they contain is different from wheat gluten. Examples include spelt, Khorasan, Red Fife, sorghum, emmer and rye.

Our flour packaging is 100% compostable. They are made from biodegradable paper and printed with water-based ink. When it comes to our packaging, which has plastic wrap that allows you to see the product, it is recyclable. For 1kg bags of oat flakes, they are unfortunately not yet recyclable, we are currently working on other options.

MAPAQ recognizes the following benefits of eating foods from organic agriculture. MAPAQ states that “organic foods result from a mode of production or processing that focuses on: protecting the environment; maintaining biodiversity; and respecting natural cycles. Organic agriculture encourages: the use of renewable resources; recycling; and the improvement of soil quality and fertility. It also favours animal health and well-being, all in a context that helps to encourage local economies and the development of farming land.” For more information on this subject, see the following pages (French only): http://www.mapaq.gouv.qc.ca/fr/Productions/Production/agriculturebiologique/Pages/alimentsbio.aspx http://lequebecbio.com

Yes, the entire product portfolio of the La Milanaise brand is organic. That means they are NON-GMO and free of pesticides, including glyphosate. La Milanaise products are certified by Ecocert Canada.   The term “organic” means that products labelled as such were produced according to the principles of organic agriculture: with respect for the environment, and with no use of chemicals. More specifically, MAPAQ (Quebec’s Ministry of Agriculture) describes organic production as follows: “Organic production and organic food processing are based on a set of techniques that exclude, in particular: the use of pesticides and fertilizers made from synthetic chemicals; the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs); the use of antibiotics and growth hormones; and the use of irradiation and chemical preservatives.” For more information on this subject, see the following page (French only): http://www.mapaq.gouv.qc.ca/fr/Productions/Production/agriculturebiologique/Pages/alimentsbio.aspx