Aldi is Australia's third largest supermarket chain and growing. But it's the odd one out in terms of its animal welfare policy. Good? No. Different? Yes, unfortunately. When it comes to providing information on farm animal welfare to consumers, Aldi lags behind other supermarkets.
Last year, Aldi didn't participate in World Animal Protection's Responsible Christmas Ham Guide. The Guide was an investigation into how Australian pigs are raised to ensure consumers have information to choose higher welfare hams for Christmas. To their credit, the two biggest supermarkets, Coles and Woolies, provided extensive information on their ham products.
But "good" Aldi showed they were not prepared to provide information to consumers that would allow them to help improve welfare standards for Australia's pigs. Not good.
In contrast, Aldi in the UK offers extensive information about animal welfare to their customers. Aldi Australia must get with the program and follow suit. It's the right thing to do.
Increasingly, Australian consumers want to know how animals were raised. They want to know that the animals were treated humanely and that they had a life worth living.
ALL of Australia's major supermarkets need to show leadership on farm animal welfare. It's time for Aldi - Australia's third largest supermarket chain - to take animal welfare seriously.
Sign our petition calling on Aldi to develop an animal welfare policy that at least matches Coles and Woolworths, and Aldi's UK counterpart. As a minimum, Aldi must commit to ensuring that mother pigs are not confined to cages during pregnancy.
