Alnatura: First brand with a complete range of organic pasture milk from a single source

Even more animal welfare for dairy cows

27-Feb-2024

From spring 2024, Alnatura will be the first brand to offer a complete basic range of organic pasture milk dairy products from a single source. Alnatura is thus closing a gap on the shelves of food retailers and organic specialist stores. Organic pasture milk products are usually only available there as milk and yogurt. The first six products will be available from March, and Alnatura will expand the range to over 30 products by June. With this step, Alnatura is completely converting its existing basic dairy range to pasture-raised milk.

New quality standard for animal welfare

Alnatura is continuing its long-standing commitment to animal welfare with the pasture-raised milk range - which is backed by 820 farmers with around 35,000 dairy cows - and is also setting a new standard in organic dairy farming.

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Alnatura animal welfare expert Christina Well explains: "Cows are grazing animals: Only on pasture can they really live out their natural behavior. To enable them to do this, they need the right infrastructure."

With this in mind, the farmers undertake to comply with the Alnatura pasture milk quality criteria. Their cornerstones: The dairy cows must have access to pasture for at least 120 days with at least six hours per day during the growing season. In addition to the already strict general requirements of the EU Organic Regulation, the minimum grazing area must be 1,000 square meters per cow. If this is not immediately possible, a farm-specific concept for maximizing the grazing area must be submitted. There must be shade trees and shelter on the pastures and drinking water must be available at all times. Farms document in a grazing calendar when and for how long the animals are allowed to graze each day. This means that customers receive dairy products that exceed the standards of both the EU Organic Regulation and the organic farming associations. The proportion of valuable omega-3 fatty acids is characteristic of pasture-raised milk. This must be confirmed for Alnatura pasture milk by two annual analyses.

Fair prices for Alnatura dairy farmers

This increase in product quality and animal welfare means additional time and financial expenditure for the dairy farmers: for example, for fence construction and maintenance as well as for the administration of the grazing calendars. Grazing also means a lower milk yield for the cows. It is important to Alnatura that the organic farms that provide these services for greater animal welfare are fairly remunerated. This is the only way they can manage their farms organically in the long term. This makes it possible to adjust retail prices in some cases. Nevertheless, Alnatura pasture milk products remain positioned in the mid-range between entry-level and premium prices.

Alnatura Managing Director Götz Rehn summarizes: "Even 40 years after the company was founded, we want to continue to be a pioneer for sensible management with nature. With the Alnatura pasture milk products, we are expanding the commitment to animal welfare that we have systematically built up over the past ten years. At the same time, Alnatura promotes climate protection because pastureland stores around twice as much CO2 as arable land. And we support biodiversity, because pastureland is an important habitat for insects and birds."

Alnatura in figures

The Alnatura company was founded in 1984 by Götz Rehn, who is still a member of the management board today. In 2021, Götz Rehn was awarded the German Founder's Prize for his life's work. According to Servicebarometer AG's Customer Monitor 2023, Alnatura has the most satisfied customers in Germany (top score in the overall ranking).

In its fortieth year of existence, the company received two awards from the German Sustainability Award Foundation. Alnatura is both the most sustainable company in the food and luxury food sector and the winner in the category Transformation Field Nature; this recognizes Alnatura's special efforts and solutions for the preservation of biodiversity and the regeneration of ecosystems.

There are currently 152 Alnatura Super Natur stores in 74 cities in 14 federal states. Over 1,300 different organic foods are produced under the Alnatura brand. These are sold in Alnatura's own organic markets and in around 13,700 branches of various retail partners in 14 countries across Europe. Alnatura employs around 3,530 people, including 200 apprentices. In the 2022/2023 financial year, Alnatura generated net sales of 1.149 billion euros.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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