Ex-employee reveals: Does Lidl cheat on organic food?

Created: 12/02/2022 11:43 am

By: Vivian Werg

Lidl promises the highest quality and, according to its own advertising, wants to become the most sustainable discounter.

© Roland Weihrauch/ dpa

At first glance, organic products from Lidl appear particularly ecological.

A former employee of the now reveals how the discounter tricks it.

Kassel – Is Lidl worth it?

Apparently not always, according to a former employee of the discounter.

In the ZDF documentary “Lidl: The Insiders.

Sales tricks at the discounter giant”, former Lidl employees reveal anonymously which tricks and false promises the discounter uses to deceive its customers in order to make more profit.

Lidl promises the highest quality and, according to its own advertising, wants to become the most sustainable discounter.

This advertises with many Bioland products, apparently with the aim that the good Bioland image rubs off on its own organic food, according to the ZDF documentation.

A former Lidl marketing manager reveals exactly what is behind the organic offensive.

Lidl organic seal: Products meet the minimum organic standard

With Bioland, the discounter has consulted the most important cooperation partner in 2019.

This guarantees high ecological standards:

• Bioland products are made without pesticides and without genetic engineering.

• No factory farming

• Products come exclusively from Germany or South Tyrol.

Anyone who regularly shops in the organic market knows how much more you pay for food products there.

Problematic for Lidl's low-price image - and that's where the in-house organic seal "Bio Organic" comes into play: According to the former Lidl marketing manager, the "Bio Organic" products are deliberately made in such a way that they are absolutely close to the Bioland products .

Lidl uses both organic seals for its own products, so the labeling becomes confusing.

Customers who don't look closely would hardly recognize the difference and would think they were buying a Bioland product.

But: only one product is manufactured according to the strict Bioland guidelines.

However, Lidl's own organic seal usually only guarantees the minimum organic standard of the EU.

In addition, according to the ZDF documentation, a few Bioland products were mixed with the cheaper "Bio Organic" own goods at the discounter.

Compared to the high-quality Bioland products, they are cheaper - both in terms of purchase and sale.

Lidl wants to confuse its customers with this trick and is doing biowashing, the former Lidl marketing manager continued.

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Lidl Bio-Siegel: A profitable business for the discounter

Many consumers would like more transparency at the shop counter as a good basis for purchasing decisions, according to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) on its website.

For a large majority, it is important to do justice to the protection of the climate and the environment when it comes to nutrition.

In the current BMEL nutrition report, eating habits and trends in shopping and cooking are surveyed.

84 percent of those surveyed stated that the regional origin of fruit and vegetables is important to them.

Around 89 percent consider a healthy diet to be essential when eating out and 60 percent stated that they pay attention to the organic seal when shopping.

According to the ZDF documentation, Lidl operates 3,200 branches in Germany alone - the "Bio Organic" products are a profitable business for the discounter.

The discounter is currently causing heated tempers with excessive tomato prices.

Prices are rising everywhere at the moment, but this price increase has recently caused a lot of confusion among its customers.

(Vivian Werg)