The cheese manufacturer Hochland, which has a plant in Schongau to which many farmers from the region deliver their milk, is said to have misled its customers with an advertising slogan.
At least that's how the consumer organization Foodwatch sees it.
We asked around in the district to see whether farmers and associations were of the same opinion.
District - On Tuesday the consumer organization Foodwatch awarded its abusive prize - the “golden cream puff” - to the company Hochland.
The cheese of the Grünländer brand misled consumers with the advertising slogan “Milk from free range cows”.
Foodwatch criticizes that Hochland is playing “a pasture idyll” for its customers and that the term “free range cows” is a “pure fantasy”.
Because the so-called cows do not run around in a meadow, but can only move freely in a stable.
As Hochland announced when asked by the local newspaper, the company did not consider the criticism appropriate.
The explanation of the term is clearly shown on the packaging of the Grünländer cheese: "For our brand, we only use milk from cows that can move freely around the barn 365 days a year and are not tied up."
"Criticism maybe not entirely unjustified"
Bernhard Heger, advisory board member of the Federal Association of German Dairy Farmers and himself a farmer in Peißenberg, is of the opinion that “the criticism of Hochland is perhaps not entirely unjustified”.
But he just doesn't want to blame the company because it is “a difficult subject”.
The consumer is often misled not only with Hochland advertising, this is also the case with other brands.
"Consumers find it difficult to recognize at first glance what is meant," explains Heger.
“The legislator is required to determine how advertising may be used,” says the farmer.
Lucia Egner from Obersöchering “does not want to pass the buck to the Hochland company”.
She is a farmer herself and is on the board of the working group for rural agriculture (AbL).
It is currently a big issue anyway that cows should be housed without being tethered.
“And Hochland is exemplary here when you don't tie up your animals and let them run freely in the barn,” says the farmer.
The consumer has become more critical when it comes to certain terminology, and that is a good thing.
“But he also has to deal with what exactly is meant by that,” says Egner.
After all, the term “free range cows” is a matter of definition.
Egner is of this opinion not only because she herself works as a supplier to Hochland, but also because “Hochland makes every effort to meet all of the requirements of consumers”.
The term "free range cows" is not precisely defined
The cheese manufacturer is very careful about animal welfare and ecological production methods.
That is why Egner cannot imagine that consumers will now boycott Hochland's brands.
Wolfgang Scholz, district chairman of the Bavarian Farmers' Association (BBV), thinks that it is no deception on the part of Hochland.
"If so, it's just an unfortunate choice of words," says Scholz.
The term “free-range cow” is not precisely defined, but one cannot therefore immediately assume that the cows can therefore run freely on the pasture.
But he does not see any regional concern.
"The milk that we deliver to the Hochland in Schongau is not used to produce the grassland", explains the BBV district chairman.
This coincides with the description on the Hochland website: The location in Schongau is "one of the most important production facilities for cream cheese and white cheese", Hochland describes on its website.
It is produced there for the Almette brand, which also belongs to the Hochland company.
