Dutch Shops Turn Against Anaemic Veal Production

NETHERLANDS - Within six months of an animal-welfare group launching a peaceful, company-targeted campaign against 'pale veal' - produced by keeping male calves penned up, fed on low-iron milk diets -- nearly all the Dutch supermarkets have stopped selling it.
calendar icon 18 March 2009
clock icon 1 minute read

Animal-rights group Wakker Dier in The Netherlands says they launched the campaign urging consumers not to buy this veal 'because pale veal is raised by keeping the calves deliberately ill, fed on a low-iron milk diet and kept stabled in small cages, writes Adriana Stuijt for Digital Journal. The Netherlands is also Europe's largest veal-producers with 1.5 million veal calves a year which never see the light of day.

According to Digital Journal, Dutch supermarkets Jumbo, Plus, Aldi, Lidl, Boon, Coop, Dekamarkt, Hoogvliet, Nettorama, Poiesz, Sanders, Emté, Spar en Vomar have all undertaken to stop selling the pale veal within the next few months - also because the Wakker Dier publicity campaign created a high level of consumer awareness, and people stopped buying it.

Supermarket chain managers who were convinced almost immediately after viewing the publicity material from Wakker Dier, Dirk, C1000, Super de Boer, AH, Bas, Digros and Deen, stopped selling the pale veal within weeks from the start of the campaign in September 2008. "We are happy that with this campaign, nearly all the anaemic veal has now disappeared from our supermarkets,' said a spokesman for Wakker Dier.

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