Ban at Lidl and Kaufland: Products are no longer available for purchase

Created: 01/26/2022, 14:07

By: Julia Thielen

A new law also affects Lidl and Kaufland.

Customers can no longer find certain everyday products on the shelves.

Anyone who regularly buys their groceries from Kaufland or Lidl may have noticed: in 2022 there were several changes on the shelves of supermarket and discounter branches.

The background to this is changes in the law that have been in effect since January and have a direct impact on the retail giants of the Schwarz Group from Neckarsulm, which includes Lidl and Kaufland.

Two serious changes should not only please environmental and animal rights activists.

Finally, the law has finally put an end to two controversial practices, as echo24.de * reports.

On the one hand, there is now a ban on certain plastic bags, not only at Lidl and Kaufland.

Lidl and Kaufland: Product ban - no longer on sale with immediate effect

On the other hand, supermarkets and discounters have to take a step in the right direction even with everyday groceries.

Because: With the entry into force of a corresponding law on January 1, 2022, certain eggs may no longer be sold.

The background is a ban on so-called chick shredding.

In this practice, male chicks are chopped up alive in a machine.

Because as cruel as it is: For meat producers, the male animals are considered uneconomical.

Raising them is less profitable as they do not lay eggs and also have fewer eggs than their female relatives.

Chick shredding banned: law came into effect in 2022

According to a judgment by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), chick shredding has only been “temporarily permissible” since 2019.

Even then, the BVerwG made it clear that "the economic interest in hens specially bred for high egg production is not in itself a reasonable reason for killing the male chicks".

In 2021, a corresponding law was also passed in the Bundestag.

According to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), "about 45 million chicken chicks have been killed shortly after hatching".

However: The actual shredding of chicks hardly existed in Germany anymore.

In most cases, chicks were killed with CO2.

But that is now over in Germany.

And that also has a direct impact on the sale of eggs.

Kaufland and Lidl: Open your eyes when buying eggs

At Lidl, where customers are currently annoyed about the online shop, Kaufland and Co. have not been able to sell eggs since January, where shredding chicks is part of the production processes.

There have long been alternatives marked accordingly in supermarkets - now this applies to all eggs sold.

In the future, consumers will no longer find certain eggs on supermarket shelves.

However, there are also shopping traps.

© Federico Gambarini/dpa

However - and this is a crux for consumers - the ban only applies to discounters and supermarkets and only to fresh eggs there.

On the other hand, (processed) eggs can still be sold both at weekly markets and in ready-made products, where the production process involves the cruel practice of shredding chicks.

Buying eggs from Lidl and Kaufland: the law does not apply to finished products

When purchasing these products, it is unfortunately difficult to tell whether the eggs may have come from abroad.

Then the law can be circumvented.

The Association of Egg Producers in Germany is therefore calling for the law against chick shredding to be extended to also include processed products.

Even if the shredding of chicks is now forbidden: This does not always mean that the male siblings of the laying hens are now actually allowed to live.

Gender determination while the egg is still in the egg is one of the alternatives to chick shredding, but it has been sharply criticized by the animal welfare organization PETA, for example.

Lidl and Kaufland: Eggs are definitely getting more expensive

In so-called in-ovo sex determination, the gender of the chicken embryo in the egg is determined after four or nine days, depending on the method according to the BMEL.

If it is a male embryo, incubation is then stopped.

So the animal does not survive.

If you want to be sure that the so-called brother chicks are also reared, you should do some thorough research before buying eggs.

The Nature Conservation Union also recommends buying organic eggs for various animal welfare reasons.

For customers of Lidl and Kaufland, however, one thing should always apply when buying eggs, regardless of the type of husbandry: the new law will certainly make them more expensive.

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