Lidl has announced that it will only sell pasture milk in Belgium, starting in the summer of this year.
The supermarket chain will source milk from cows that graze outside for at least 120 days in a year, for at least 6 hours a day.
Animal-Friendly Product
The move will make it the first Belgian retailer to sell milk from animal-friendly farms.
The discounter will sell 15 products containing pasture milk, which include the classic full, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk, chocolate milk and red fruit drink.
Lidl spokesperson, Isabelle Colbrandt, said, "The switch to 100% Belgian pasture milk, also in processed products such as chocolate milk and red fruit drinks, will immediately increase our turnover from products that pay attention to animal welfare by 28%."
The dairy products will bear a pasture milk quality mark and will be inspected by an independent, accredited institution.
Sustainable Food
The move is a part of the retailer's goals to offer more animal-friendly and sustainable products.
“Since 2011 we have been fully committed to sustainable food. We always choose to make a complete category more sustainable," Colbrandt explained and said, "...all our fresh fish is already 100% sustainable ASC or MSC-certified and our Belgian pork bears the '1 star better life' label."
Lidl sells around 52.4 million litres of milk annually.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
