Aldi is removing beef from its borders with Brazil

Aldi is changing its range: from summer, the discounter will no longer buy beef from Brazil. The background is a growing clearing of rainforest in a South American country. Other products to follow.

Major discounter chains in Germany will be missing one product altogether by summer: both Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd will no longer sell meat from Brazil. The company announced Friday that it applies to frozen goods as well as fresh meats.

The background is climate protection: because beef from South America not only has to travel long distances before reaching German refrigerated shelves. It also promotes deforestation of the rainforest in Brazil.

Because many of Brazil’s cattle farms are located on former forest areas: For decades, farmers in the South American country have been clearing rainforest to make room for pastures.

Above all, rising global demand for beef is driving this growth. But large areas are also being cleared for the cultivation of soy or palm oil.

Scandal about German corporations

German companies were also criticized for having such meat farms: research by NDR, SWR and Süddeutsche Zeitung a few years earlier showed that Volkswagen’s subsidiary VW do Brasil had already established some of these cattle breeding farms in the 1970s. were made. The company is said to have cleared the rainforest and forced employees into a system of debt bondage.

Rainforest clearing reached a new record last year. From August 2020 to July 2021, 13,235 square kilometers of rainforests were destroyed. This was about 22 per cent higher than the same period last year – the highest level till then.

Earth’s green lungs are on fire (symbolic image): In Brazil, deforestation has repeatedly reached new highs in recent years. This puts pressure on the global climate. (Source: Parallaxis/Thinkstock by Getty-Images)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is accused of massively weakening control mechanisms to protect the rainforest. One thing is certain: deforestation has increased significantly since the beginning of his term.

Deforestation accelerates climate change

This has disastrous consequences for the global climate, as the rainforest is the earth’s green lung. Trees absorb climate-damaging CO2, produce oxygen from it and are habitat for millions of animals and plants. If they are cleared, the CO2 stored in trees and soil is released back into the atmosphere. It is fueling global warming and having impacts around the world (read more about it here,

So Aldi wants to change its supply chain from the summer of 2022: All new supplier contracts of fresh meat and frozen goods that cannot contain beef from Brazil.

In the long term, Discounter wants to investigate processed meat in other foods and trace its origins. According to the company, soybean and palm oil products will also be tested in the medium term: products from countries where rainforests are being cleared should also be removed from the border.