The world’s biggest producer of organic milk and Denmark’s largest dairy company says cheese once intended for Russians will instead go to the poor.
Arla Foods says it has 15 tons of cheese it plans to donate to the Food Bank, a Danish non-profit organization that provides food for the poor, after President Vladimir Putin in August retaliated against trade sanctions by banning a range of European imports, including dairy.
“Since then, Arla has managed to find other markets for almost all the affected goods, but a small part can, for various reasons, no longer be repackaged or sold,” the company said today in a statement on its website.
Imported cheese made up 30 per cent of the Russian market before the ban, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov said 9 October. Arla said products now destined for the Food Bank include cream cheeses with blueberries, chocolate or olives, an assortment the company said caters to the Russian palate but isn’t consumed in Denmark.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
