On Wednesday May 16th, we started of our day with a trip to the Kraft Foods Biscuit Plant in Herentals, Belgium. In Europe, biscuits are actually what Americans refer to as cookies and crackers in the States. We first sat down with Philippe Housseman, the Associate Director of Research and Development Chocolate, Western Europe Cluster, and several other employees including the plant manager, Carl. Carl gave us a brief presentation on some of the history of Kraft's biscuit brands. In summary of the presentation, we learned that in 2007 Kraft acquired the biscuit company LU. This plant now produces over 500 SKU's including brands such as Prince, TUC, Liga, PIM's, Bastogne, which are their largest European brands. They export 70% of their products throughout the EU and globally.      

After the presentation, we were guided to the production facility. There we were able to see the entire production of a Prince biscuit from dough formation to packaging. We were even lucky enough to eat a fresh biscuit right off of production line. With the conclusion of our tour, we were treated to a lunch consisting of chicken, cucumber soup, apple sauce, and potatoes. The lunch was a Belgian delight and we thoroughly enjoyed conversation with our tour guides and plant employees.

After lunch, our hosts graciously gave each of us a box filled with a sampling of all of their products. We then got back on the bus and headed to the Kraft Foods Cote d'Or Chocolate Plant in Halle, Belgium.  Once we arrived, we were given a tour of the children's museum. It provided the history of chocolate, beginning in the ninth century. Unfortunately the entire narration was in French.

After the museum, we met in the conference room for a more in depth presentation about the cocoa supply chain by Mr. Houssemand and the plant manager, Mr. Paul Meuwes. We discussed the process of chocolate production and the different types of chocolate that the plant produces. They also discussed where their cocoa comes from and the procurement involved. After a brief Q&A session we split up into two groups in order to tour the production lines. We were able to watch the production of a simple dark chocolate bar from filling molds to the end packaging. The chocolate production line was considerably shorter than the biscuit lines but just as interesting. Completing our tour, we were again given a wonderful parting gift of assorted chocolates. With our minds full of new knowledge and our bags full of goodies, we ended our day and headed back to Leuven.