GM-free fed Lidl

August 2016

Photo Creative Commons

If you follow the business news, you'll be aware that the Big Four UK grocers have seen their sales figures go into reverse in the past few months. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda are just discovering that, in uncertain times, customers are less interested in choice and brand names than they are in value-for-money.

German 'discounter' Lidl, which offers select bulk-bought staple products at a minimum price, is one of the up-and-coming grocers into which the Big Four's customers are diverting.

Lidl's customers are quality-conscious, and this extends to doubts about the health-effects of GM in their food-chain.  Like all good grocers, the Company is responding to its customers' requirements.

From July 2015, Lidl began to introduce dairy produce from non-GM-fed cows.  First off was fresh and UHT 'GM-free' milk in Bavaria.  This is currently being rolled out across its German stores and will shortly include two cheeses (Emmentaler and Wisenländer).  In Bavaria, 'GM-free' dairy is to be expanded to include cream, sour cream, crème fraîche, mozzarella and sliced cheese.  All these will carry a visible 'GM-free' ('Ohne Genentechnik') label.

The Company has undertaken to absorb any additional costs incurred by its 'GM-free' farmers.

Lidl has 91 stores in Scotland, and has recently agreed "six-figure deals" with Macsween of Edinburgh and We Hae Meat of Ayrshire to supply black pudding, haggis and sausage.  Beef from Scottish, grass-fed cows is also being advertised. 

A £1.5 billion investment in building new Lidl stores now underway.

OUR COMMENT

Lidl is creating a demand for GM-free feed which will generate ... GM-free feed.  Being canny Germans, they're doing it at a measured pace to give farmers and suppliers time to adjust.  The fact that the Company is confident about absorbing the cost and is able, at the same time, to plan a major expansion, suggests all the doom-mongering about supposed prohibitive cost of using non-GM feed has been significantly overplayed.

Bear in mind that GM crops were (and continue to be) rolled out due to the "deep pockets of agribusinesses based in the United States, their political connections, and the notion that GMOs represent 'progress'" (Latham and Wilson).  None of these things have the power that YOU the customer wield.

What are you waiting for?  Contact Lidl at https://ssl.lidl.co.uk/en/customer-service-contact-form-uk.htm Congratulate them on supplying the sort of food you want to buy and make a 'product suggestion' that it moves to rolling out its GM-free feed policy in Scotland a.s.a.p.

SOURCES:

• Amy Forde, Lidl to list GMO-free dairy products in its German stores, www.agriland.ie, 4.07.16
• Adam Gale, Brexit vote could help Aldi and Lidl, www.managementtoday.co.uk, 28.06.16
• Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson, Monsanto's Worst Fear May Be Coming True, Independent
• Science News, 18.05.15