Lidl trials new meat ‘production method’ labelling

When it comes to fresh chicken, shoppers are reportedly demanding that retailers become more transparent with the information displayed on packaging.
Lidl GB is introducing a new ‘method of production’ meat label, which will be trialled on all of its fresh chicken products, improving transparency and helping customers to make more informed decisions.
The new label, which will feature on all fresh chicken in Lidl GB stores nationwide will have one of the following messages:
- Indoor – Birds are reared outside the UK to legal housing requirements
- British Indoor – Birds live in safe, comfortable housing with natural daylight, bales, perches and pecking objects
- British Indoor+ – Birds live in housing with more space to exhibit natural behaviour; with natural daylight and environmental enrichment
- British Free Range – Birds live in safe, comfortable housing with access to the outdoors for a minimum of 8 hours a day
- British Organic – Birds have access to large outdoor ranges, with smaller flock sizes and a GM free diet
Ryan McDonnell, chief commercial officer, said: “To ensure that we are continuing to make good food accessible for all households, it’s important that we offer customers quality meat products that are from a range of different farming systems. In addition to working with trusted partners, to give our customers the confidence that welfare standards are being maintained, we feel it’s important to provide them with very clear, objective information about how the meat was produced to enable them to make an informed purchase decision.’
Sophie Elwes, senior scientific officer for farm animals at the RSPCA, said: “We are delighted Lidl is taking this step to ensure that labels on their fresh chicken clearly shows the method of production and we applaud them for being the first retailer in Britain to voluntarily do this on chicken.
“Lidl customers will now be able to make an informed choice about the chicken they buy and we hope it will lead to more people buying higher welfare options in the same way that sales of cage-free eggs increased when they were labelled in this way. This step will establish a labelling system that benefits chickens, farmers and customers and we hope that other retailers will follow Lidl’s lead.”
Lidl GB is also committing to sourcing all its fresh chicken from the UK farms by October this year. The supermarket already sources two-thirds of its core products in Britain and the retailer is committed to extending this further.