Discounter
Aldi Süd is abolishing cheap sausages – no more husbandry level 1
In the supermarket, customers are finding more and more sausage and meat products from better animal husbandry. A start, but no more, says a consumer organization.
As of this week, customers at Aldi Süd can no longer buy sausage products from the lowest production level. The discounter announced that this is a step towards the complete conversion of the range to levels 3 and higher. Tier 2 sausage is currently still available.
The other major food retailers in Germany also offer sausage from production form 1. From the end of 2025, Aldi Nord no longer wants to sell such products from the lowest husbandry, as the company explained upon request. Rewe and Penny are planning to do this by the end of the year, at least for pork and poultry meat.
At the discounter Lidl, the switch to higher levels for sausage products is almost complete, it was said. Edeka, Kaufland and Netto also want to reduce the share of level 1, but did not specify a time period.
Four levels of husbandry for sausage and meat
The farming system is a voluntary labeling system for meat and processed pork, beef and poultry products. There are four levels with increasing requirements for keeping animals. Level 1 “Stable keeping” only corresponds to the legal minimum requirements. Level 2 guarantees a little more space.
The large retail chains want to completely convert the entire range of fresh meat from their own brands in Germany for beef, pork and poultry to the higher husbandry levels 3 and 4 by 2030. The prerequisite is sufficient availability of goods, as several companies emphasize. At level 3, animals have more space and contact with fresh air, at level 4 they have opportunities to run outside.
The consumer organization Foodwatch explained: “The retail chains’ advance does not change the suffering of millions in German stables.” Whether animals are healthy does not depend on the way they are kept, but rather on the farmers’ stable management. Instead of livestock labeling, legal requirements for good animal health are needed.
According to the industry, there is a movement towards meat products in supermarkets with better animal husbandry conditions. For pork from the self-service shelf, 1.5 percent still came from level 1 in 2023. The sponsoring company announced this at the Green Week agricultural trade fair in Berlin. There was no longer any meat from turkeys and chickens from the lowest farming methods. When it comes to beef, however, more than three quarters still come from level 1.
DPA
mkb
Source: Stern
