German retailer Lidl to significantly reduce meat choices

The German supermarket chain Lidl has announced that it will offer significantly fewer animal products such as meat in the future. The company plans to publish a sustainability report this year that will calculate the distribution of animal and vegetable proteins in its range. By 2025, the proportion of plant-based foods will then be “continuously increased”, it announced.

According to the Lebensmittelzeitung, Chief Buyer Christoph Graf said there was no alternative because there was no second planet. He spoke at the Green Week in Berlin recently. Resources must be managed for all 10 billion people on the globe. That is only possible if less meat is consumed, Graf noted.

Although Graf claimed that the decision to phase out meat should not be seen as an attempt to dictate how customers live their lives, he said that he hopes that he can “motivate” shoppers to purchase more plant-based protein options.

He went on to say that by shifting away from meat, the company would gain support from the younger generations, commenting: “I believe that the younger generation is happy when we deal with the topic.”