Greenpeace Aotearoa says new legal documents from Fonterra Brands reveal that the dairy giant has removed labels from its Anchor butter packaging which Greenpeace says falsely claimed that Fonterra dairy cows are ‘100% New Zealand grass-fed’.
Greenpeace spokesperson Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn says, “In an undeniable admission of guilt, Fonterra Brands has changed the logo on its Anchor butter packaging since we filed suit against it. But this case doesn’t end here.”
In late September 2024, Greenpeace announced that it was suing Fonterra for false claims on the dairy giant’s Anchor Butter packaging, which claimed to be ‘100% New Zealand grass-fed’. The lawsuit was met with vehement denial from the dairy giant, despite the fact that its own grass-fed standard, available online, allows for up to 20% of a cow’s diet by dry matter volume to be palm kernel.
However, Fonterra Brands’ statement of defence has revealed that since the lawsuit was announced, it has removed the contested logo from the butter packaging, in a move Greenpeace says is an admission of guilt. The logo now reads ‘grass-fed’.
“Fonterra Brands markets its products as clean, green and grass-fed because they know that people care about nature and climate change. But Fonterra is Aotearoa’s worst climate polluter and is feeding the oversized dairy herd palm kernel – a product produced by the destructive oil palm industry which is destroying rainforests and contributing to climate change,” says Deighton-O’Flynn.
“Fonterra’s own terms of supply allow for up to 20% of a dairy cow’s diet to be palm kernel while still being classified as grass-fed. Fonterra Brands has confirmed this in its statement of defence. Yet its new Anchor butter packaging still retains the claim that it is ‘grass-fed’, without specifying that Fonterra has its own definition of what grass-fed means.
“New Zealanders really care about nature. We don’t want to be buying butter that is linked to the destruction of paradise rainforests in Southeast Asia and is fueling climate change.
“If Fonterra won’t see the signs and change their practices voluntarily, then they should expect consumers both here and around the world to force their hand,” says Deighton-O’Flynn.
“Fonterra may have changed its branding to remove the ‘100%’ claim, but this is still not enough while it continues to mislead customers with this grass-fed greenwash. We’ll be continuing our lawsuit and holding Fonterra to account over its use of palm kernel to feed the oversized dairy herd.”
