Please note that PAN UK updated this supermarket’s profile in March 2023 to reflect new information provided by the company. This is independent of the ranking results of 2021, which we will update in 2024 following another survey.

Lidl came seventh out of ten supermarkets in the 2021 ranking. The company did not respond to the survey in 2019 so this year was the first time that PAN UK was able to assess its pesticide policies in any detail. While Lidl is more open and transparent about pesticides compared to some other supermarkets, it is not doing enough to protect bees and other pollinators from pesticides used in its global supply chains. As with all other UK supermarkets, Lidl could be doing more to reduce pesticide-related harms in its global supply chains.

(Updated in March 2023)

Lidl informed PAN UK that it was no longer selling high-risk, synthetic pesticide products in its gardening range. The company has replaced the glyphosate-based weedkiller that it previously stocked with an alternative product containing the far more benign ingredient of acetic acid. This is now the only pesticide Lidl sells in its gardening range. The company does not have its own brand of pesticide products.

Lidl has an explicit commitment on its website “to phase out the majority of highly hazardous pesticides and pesticides harming pollinators, such as neonicotinoids”. The company has drawn up a “Strategic Substance List” which names those pesticides it has flagged for phase out. While this is positive, unlike the majority of other supermarkets, Lidl’s lists do not appear to include any pesticides that have already been banned from its supply chains. The lists also provide no detail on which pesticides are the priority for action or what specific phase out actions are conducted once a pesticide is listed.

Lidl told PAN UK that any pesticide which is not authorised for use in the EU is prohibited, or at least flagged for phase out, throughout its global supply chains. This is significant because the EU has the most protective pesticide regime in the world and is far more likely to ban a pesticide due to the harms it causes. As a result many – but not all – highly hazardous pesticides are not permitted for use in the EU. However, Lidl delegates the implementation of this policy on highly hazardous pesticides to an external organisation and did not provide much detail on how this third-party monitors or enforces it. The company therefore has much less control over which pesticides are used in its supply chain than many other supermarkets which retain responsibility for this in-house. In response to this critique, Lidl told PAN UK that it “works with accredited third-party organisations to ensure that its policy is implemented and verified”. The company added that it does bring in restrictions that go beyond national laws and is currently phasing-out Indoxacarb which is a highly hazardous pesticide approved for use in the UK.

In common with most other supermarkets, Lidl could be doing more to ensure that stronger worker safety measures are in place when dealing with pesticides that pose a particular threat to human health.

(Updated in March 2023)

Lidl is taking a number of actions to support its suppliers to adopt non-chemical alternatives, but could be doing more. The company told PAN UK that it provides its suppliers with guidance, training and bespoke advice on non-chemical management techniques and also conducts and shares research on alternatives to pesticides. Lidl also stated that it makes efforts to reduce post-harvest use of pesticides by ensuring that fresh produce is transported in optimal conditions and using non-chemical barrier treatments to prevent fresh produce rotting. The company has also signed up to a number of external farm assurance schemes that include standards on pesticide reduction. It told PAN UK that it is making progress on making sure that all of its British fruit and vegetable growers are certified under either the LEAF Marque standard or an organic certification scheme by the end of 2023. However, it appears that Lidl may be over-reliant on these external schemes and could be doing more to provide direct support to its suppliers to use non-chemical methods of pest control.

Unlike other supermarkets, Lidl doesn’t encourage its suppliers to use biopesticides. It also doesn’t run grower groups designed to bring farmers together to share tips and advice on reducing pesticide use. Enabling farmers to share learnings with each other on non-chemical pest control techniques has been shown to be a highly effective way of driving a reduction in pesticide use.

Lidl told PAN UK that it tests a range of food for pesticide residues including fruit and vegetables, rice, prepared meals, juices, herbs and spices, teas, pulses, jam, nuts and dried fruit. However, unlike most other supermarkets, it does not currently test dairy, meat, fish or wheat products such as bread and pasta. It therefore tests a smaller selection of items than many other supermarkets. The company did, however, tell PAN UK that all of its products are “risk assessed for pesticide residues and subjected to a testing programme based on the outcome of this assessment”.

When Lidl’s testing programme identifies a product containing high residues, an investigation is conducted and “corrective action plans are put in place with the suppliers”. The company told PAN UK that it investigates all instances when pesticide residues go above “Lidl specifications”. These are stricter than legal limits and include a requirement that the residues of no more than five different pesticides are allowed to appear in any one product. Lidl also told PAN UK that it uses the results of its residue testing programme to inform its decisions on which pesticides to prioritise for phase out, and to identify which farmers need greater support to switch to non-chemical alternatives.

Lidl has stated that protecting pollinators is a key factor when considering which pesticides it allows for use in its supply chains, and told PAN UK that it will ban the use of neonicotinoids in its global supply chain from May 2022. It also told PAN UK that it “asks” all of its suppliers around the world to avoid using pesticides which are not authorised in the EU. This has the potential to be hugely positive since the EU has banned more pesticides that are harmful to pollinators (including most bee-toxic neonicotinoids) than anywhere else in the world. However, ideally Lidl would upgrade this measure from an “ask” to a requirement.

Lidl relies upon external partners to both monitor which pesticides are used in its supply chains and encourage its growers to adopt pollinator-friendly measures, such as planting wildflowers. By outsourcing these crucial roles, the company is not taking enough direct responsibility for protecting bees and pollinators from pesticides used in its supply chains. In response to this critique, Lidl told PAN UK that it “works with accredited third-party organisations to ensure that its policy is implemented and verified”. The company is currently failing to support research into pollinator-friendly practices, and doesn’t require its suppliers to monitor pollinator activity.

In contrast to many other supermarkets, Lidl is only taking one of the three key actions which enable supermarkets to involve their customers in helping them to reduce pesticide use in their supply chains:

• Lidl does send a standard response to customers who find a bug in fresh produce but it fails to explain that this may be because their suppliers are using less pesticides. This is a missed opportunity since customer complaints about insects can often hold a supermarket back from reducing its pesticide use. However, once shoppers understand that the bug in their lettuce (for example) is there because it has been grown with fewer chemicals, they tend to be supportive.
• Lidl doesn’t currently sell an ‘imperfect’ fruit and vegetables range. The sale of so called ‘wonky’ fruit and vegetables reduces the need for cosmetic pesticides. However, in response to this critique, Lidl told PAN UK that it “doesn’t believe in the philosophy of wonky veg” and instead has “more inclusive specifications” to ensure that it is able to take as much of a growers’ yield as possible.  The company also pointed out that its “Too Good To Waste” boxes offer customers the chance to purchase fruit and vegetables that are less than perfect.
• The company told PAN UK that it does promote seasonality to its customers. Through its Peas Please initiative, Lidl provides customers with recipe inspirations which particularly encourage cooking with seasonal produce. Seasonal produce is more likely to be grown closer to home, keeping supply chains short and lessening the need to use fungicides which prevent fresh produce from rotting while it’s being transported.

Lidl has a page on its website which describes the company’s “Pesticide Reduction Programme” and includes information on the measures it has in place to address pesticide residues in food. This webpage also links to Lidl’s “Strategic Substance List”, a three-page list of specific pesticides which the company “prioritises for removal in fresh produce”. However, Lidl could be more transparent regarding pesticides. While it is positive that Lidl publishes its “Strategic Substance List”, the company provides less detail than many other supermarkets on how it decides which pesticides to focus on and what actions it is taking to limit or phase out their use.

While Lidl’s webpage on pesticides is fairly detailed, it falls short of providing the depth of information included in the pesticide policies of some other supermarkets. As a result, certain aspects of Lidl’s approach to pesticides (for example, the support it has in place to help suppliers reduce pesticide use or its stance on selling pesticide products) are not included and don’t appear to be publicly available elsewhere. Lidl also does not publish the results of its in-house residue testing programme. As a result, customers are unable to find out which pesticides residues appear in the food Lidl sells.

Lidl sells a range of 101 organic products across its stores, which is relatively high when compared with other major UK supermarkets. The company told PAN UK that it is committed to increasing its organic range, particularly focusing on tinned food. Lidl has also invested in promoting its organic baby range through in-store promotional materials and communications on their various media channels. It has also launched its “Welfare Windows” initiative which labels meat and eggs in a way which helps consumers to understand how the animals have been reared. While the initiative does include a ‘British organic’ label, it appears to be aimed at helping consumers to make informed decisions rather than encouraging them to choose organic. Lidl has not undertaken any significant activities to promote the benefits of organic to the general public and doesn’t have any measures in place to help its suppliers convert to organic food production.