Lidl is advancing its commitment to healthy and sustainable diets with ambitions to further align its product range with the Planetary Health Diet (PHD)[1] by 2050.
By 2030, the supermarket retailer will increase the proportion of fruit and vegetables, whole grains and protein sources (pulses, nuts and seeds) sold by 20% compared to 2022.
Recent research found the UK is eating less fruit and vegetables, with the amount bought by households having fallen to its lowest level in 50 years and the situation being dramatically worse for the region’s poorest families[2]. With 43 stores across Northern Ireland, Lidl is committed to supporting shoppers across the region to choose from a broad range of affordable healthy food.
Lidl is the first retailer in the region to incorporate WWF’s (World Wide Fund for Nature’s) methodology to its range, bringing transparency to its offering across all food groups, and empowering local customers to make healthier and sustainable choices.
The supermarket retailer said the ambitious targets across its value chain will contribute to a local and global food system transformation, helping to address challenges in Northern Ireland such as diet-related diseases as well as climate change and biodiversity loss.
With the support of WWF, Lidl will increase the ambition of its healthy and sustainable diets strategy right across all 31 Lidl countries, empowering customers to make healthy choices for their families and making sustainable purchasing decisions more easily.
Ivan Ryan, Regional Managing Director of Lidl Northern Ireland, explained:
“A global food system transformation is key if we are to feed a growing world population in a healthy way, within planetary boundaries. Lidl has been committed to contributing to this goal and making healthy, nutritious and affordable options available to all shoppers.
“With WWF as an experienced partner at our side, we want to make an even greater impact in the future and offer our customers in Northern Ireland, and across our global markets, a constantly growing selection of healthy, more sustainable alternatives at the usual low Lidl price for which we are renowned.”
The ambitious target, announced today, aligns Lidl’s holistic sustainability and healthy eating strategy and will be achieved through a targeted focus on the retailer’s fruit and vegetable, whole grain and protein range.
Dietary fibre is essential for a long and healthy life and deficiencies can often lead to diet related disease. By 2030, Lidl Northern Ireland aims to increase the proportion of whole grains in its products to 20%. Lidl will also offer at least one whole grain option in all relevant private label categories by 2030.
The retailer will also aim to increase the share of plant-based protein sources to 15% by 2030. This includes offering a broader range of pulses, nuts, seeds and increasing the offering of vegan products from its Vemondo range.
Starting in 2025, Lidl will report on its progress annually, making the data publicly available.
Find more information about the engagement of Lidl with the WWF for Conscious Nutrition on: WWF Partnership - Lidl