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Lidl in Denmark has banished battery hen eggs from its shelves

TheCopenhagenPost
November 20th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Animal welfare organisations give the discount supermarket chain the thumbs up

The discount supermarket chain Lidl has removed battery hen eggs from the shelves of all of its Danish stores and plans to also remove battery eggs ‘hidden’ in other products from its range.

Finn Tang, the CEO of Lidl Denmark, explained that as well as being an ethical decision, the measure was motivated by Danes’ buying habits.

“As a company we have a responsibility for the products we sell being produced under proper conditions. We know that more and more Danes choose not to buy battery eggs, and we have therefore assessed that the time has come for us to remove them from our shelves,” he said.

“At the same time we have for some time been working on phasing out battery eggs in our other products, so we are well on the way with that:”

Good going
Britta Riis, the head of the animal welfare organisation Dyrenes Beskyttelse, supports Lidl’s decision.

“It’s good going by Lidl. Battery hens have very bad welfare. The conditions they live under go against their nature in every way,” she said.

“The fact that Lidl now takes responsibility for contributing to improve animal welfare is something we can only welcome. And I don’t for a second doubt that consumers will do the same.”

According to figures from the animal rights organisation Dyrenes Beskyttelse, 86 percent of Danes believe that retailers and food producers have a responsibility for animal welfare being adequate in the goods they sell.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

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At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”