It’s been a big week for Australian supermarkets, and we wouldn’t necessarily say it’s been a good one. Coles, Aldi and Woolworths have all been under fire by passionate and vocal Australians who demand change – they want to stop cage eggs now and support Australian dairy farmers by boycotting supermarket branded milk.
These are the stories amongst the big three supermarkets that we couldn’t stop talking about this week.
Aldi’s controversial pledge to end caged eggs
Supermarket Aldi have made the pledge to stop selling cage eggs… but not till 2025. Nine years away.
The move came after a brave and passionate 14-year-old Angelina Popovski started a petition to stop selling inhumane cage eggs so that Aldi Australia could match what their US and Europe counterparts are doing.
Close to 100,000 signatures were on the petition and spurred Aldi Australia CEO Tom Daunt to make change.
Many on social media have been outraged that it’s taking them so long to roll out the changes.
Aldi responded to one comment explaining the long timeline, saying that it’s “due to limited amount of infrastructure to support cage-free only industry.”
Coles and Woolworths feeling the heat over discounted milk
Shoppers are continuing to revolt against cheap supermarket branded milk, even as Woolworths slash prices again to a staggering low of 50c for 2 litres.
A photo was posted on Facebook from Woolworths’ Redlands store (near Brisbane) showing the shocking price. Lisa Rowntree said on the Woolworths Facebook page: “Hey Woolies people, can you tell me which stores are selling milk for $0.50 for 2 litres? You should be ashamed of yourselves. #Shame.”
Woolworths’ responded with: “Hey Lisa, due to the close expiry date, these items are being sold at $0.50 to clear the unused stock.”
Coles and Woolworths have been accused of exacerbating the pressure on dairy farmers by cutting their own milk prices.
There has been a massive surge of support over the current milk crisis, with people wanting to support Aussie dairy farmers by choosing not to buy supermarket branded $1/litre milk. The higher retail price of dairy farmers milk means more money goes to them.
Support has been so big that customer calls to Aussie Farmers Direct has jumped nearly 40 per cent over the past week and website traffic has doubled, as more shoppers are seeking out ways they can do the right thing by dairy farmers.
On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce announced that all farmers affected by the unexpected slash of prices would receive a $555 million concessional loan package. He told The Australian “The momentum is there nationally for farmers to get a fairer deal, $1 litre milk that is cheaper than bottled water is not fair.”
Greens leader Richard Di Natale showed his support on Wednesday night, saying: “We cannot continue to have a sustainable dairy industry while Coles and Woolies are ripping off dairy farmers.”
While the slash of prices from these supermarkets are still continuing, these are the milk brands you can buy to help the community:
