These are the four nominees for Wakker Dier’s Stalmelk Stiekemerd title
Wakker Dier is known as an organization that isn’t afraid to publicly shame brands for their disregard for animal welfare. Their latest election is the so-called ‘Stalmelk Stiekemerd’: brands whose product(s) contain milk from cows that never go outside. These are the 4 nominations for the not-so-coveted title.
Just to be clear: cows that don’t go outside are always indoors in the barn. In other words, they barely see any daylight. The milk from these cows does not carry an official quality mark. As a result, it ends up in cheap mixed milk streams, which therefore consist of an average of one-quarter barn milk, according to Wakker Dier. The nominees for the Stalmelk Stiekemerd election – all major brands, by the way! – process these cheap streams containing barn milk in their products.
Stalmelk Stiekemerd nominees
In total, 4 products from 4 different brands have been nominated for the Stalmelk Stiekemerd title. These are 4 major brands and products we all know: Campina Grasboter, Kapteins Echte Boter, ERU Goudkuipje and Vergeer Gouda Jong Belegen. Anne Hillhorst, director of Wakker Dier, is certainly not impressed by these 4 brands. “I expect more from these well-known major brands. Very disappointing,” she said via the Wakker Dier website.
Pretty misleading
The 4 major brands have made the products misleading in their own ways. The packaging of Campina Grasboter states that the butter is ‘made with milk from cows that eat spring and summer grass’. The packaging of Kapteins Echte Boter says something similar: not in words, but in images. The wrapper shows cows happily grazing in a meadow. ERU Goudkuipje and Vergeer Gouda Jong Belegen also present a very different picture from reality. Vergeer says it ‘makes ordinary cheese extraordinary’, while ERU Goudkuipje is no less than twice as expensive as a supermarket own-brand spreadable cheese.
In all four cases, consumers think the brand is doing the right thing or is of very high quality, while it uses milk from cows that never set a hoof outside. We are by now sick to death of this kind of supermarket deception through sly marketing tricks.
Campaign for dairy cows
Wakker Dier has been campaigning for dairy cows for some time. It has 3 goals: allowing all cows to go outside, encouraging major brands to change their policies and products, and educating consumers. Because, sadly, today one-quarter of all Dutch cows still spend every day – all day – in the barn. And that’s despite the fact that they need to spend as much time outside as possible. Grazing is good for them, as is walking on soft grass. It is therefore clear that a great deal needs to be improved in this area.
The election date
On 22 August, Wakker Dier will announce which brand (and product) receives the title of biggest Stalmelk Stiekemerd. We’re curious to see who the advocate of the supermarket free of factory-farmed chicken and supporter of the happiest eggs in the Netherlands will choose. Until then – and probably afterwards too – we’ll leave these products on the supermarket refrigerator shelf for now.
Also read:
- Rabbit meat from supermarkets must have at least one Beter Leven quality mark star next year
- Bizarre practices: female shrimp are mutilated to make them lay more eggs
- These cows wearing VR glasses might produce more milk; scientists are doubtful
Source: Wakker Dier
