Nos escargots et leur bien-être
Patrice récolte le mucus au moment le plus opportun pour l’animal, c’est-à-dire celui où il sera le moins dérangé dans ses occupations naturelles. C’est seulement dans ces conditions que l’animal donne le meilleur mucus.
Un savoir-faire français unique qui fait toute la différence
Organic farming
The entire snail breeding cycle takes place in Creux de la Tine, in an exceptional region between the Drôme and the Ardèche. No step is subcontracted.
Respect for the snail's life cycle
It is immediately after reproduction, when the snail produces its richest mucus, that Mademoiselle Agathe harvests it. The snail farmer works on instinct and feeling, depending on behaviour, the period and the environment (heat, humidity, moon cycles, etc.).
A 100% manual harvest
This is the trickiest step, taking each snail one by one. It requires great dexterity because it is essential that the animal is not stressed or returned to its shell. Only this manual harvesting process can guarantee the well-being of the animal. Each snail gives an average of 3 to 5 grams of mucus.
Stabilization of mucus
The low cold pressure treatment of the mucus allows filtration without causing emulsion and therefore oxidation of the product. This filtration system, used since the dawn of time to produce the most qualitative plant extracts, makes it possible to preserve the hydro and fat-soluble part of the mucus.
The incorporation of the active ingredient into the cream
Mademoiselle Agathe has set herself the goal of incorporating as many active ingredients as possible into her formulas. Indeed, after having produced an exceptional extract, it is integrated to the maximum of what is authorized by the COSMOS standard in our formulas.
Comment sommes-nous certains que nous ne faisons pas de mal à nos escargots ?
Our harvest, exclusively manual, is the least invasive for the animal. But let's face it, it remains obvious that we come to disturb the animal in its natural cycle.
So the basic principle is to disturb him as little as possible, bringing him as little stress as possible. Snails for mucus harvesting are large breeders whose mission is to reproduce every year. (This agricultural activity is that of heliciculture and is independent of Miss Agathe)
These large breeders do not enter the food cycle and will therefore end their days naturally (a snail in the wild has a lifespan of 1 to 2 years, mainly due to the many predators and phyto treatments in the gardens, whereas in our breeding in organic farming they live rather up to 4 or 5 years).
For the collection of mucus strictly speaking, it is immediately after spawning, when its mucus is the richest in protein, and when it no longer needs it for its reproduction, that we carry out harvesting the slime by hand, snail by snail.
How can we be sure that we are not hurting them? Our snail farmer conducted tests for more than 4 years on their reproduction rate after the slime was harvested before embarking on our partnership. He was able to notice that snails that had been stimulated to harvest slime (a stimulation of 30 to 40 seconds once a year) and those that had not been stimulated showed no difference in their fecundity and spawning rates.
Thanks to these results, we were able to ensure that this stimulation did not disturb the snail too much in its life cycle. And it is essentially due to the dexterity that only the human hand can give and also for the ease of removing those who do not want to give, that this manual harvest is in our opinion the most respectful way to take advantage of the benefits of the drool. snail for the skin. And of course in "remove" we mean "rest the snail in the parks" to return to its primary activity: its natural cycle of reproduction.
Unfortunately, we cannot say that we do not disturb the animal despite everything. But, because there is always a "but" in terms of animal exploitation, such as the beekeeper who harvests honey, or the milk of donkeys also harvested for cosmetics, all these breedings do not have as their end the death of the animal. Moreover, if the exploitation made of the animal is the most respectful and ethical possible, we quickly notice that the quality of the elements obtained is much better.
Jamy vous propose une visite des coulisses de notre héliciculture dans la Drôme.
SUIVEZ LE GUIDE !
Visitez l’héliciculture
A la Ferme aux Escargots, Mélodie, Alexandra et Patrice seront présents pour vous présenter leur élevage lors d’un parcours initiatique sur l’escargot. Vous pourrez observer l’évolution des escargots dans leur milieu naturel et vous laisser conter la vie secrète de ces petits animaux si surprenants.
Vous aurez la chance de visiter la nurserie, la serre de reproduction et les parcs de croissance… Cette visite vous permettra d’aller à la rencontre de ce petit animal familier et de découvrir son fonctionnement hors du commun.
