In the wake of news that Fonterra has sold its consumer brands to French dairy company Lactalis for $3.845 billion NZD, Greenpeace is committing to continuing its anti-greenwash lawsuit which focuses on the dairy giant’s Anchor Butter packaging.
Greenpeace spokesperson Sinead Deighton-O’Flynn says “Fonterra may have washed its hands of Anchor products, including their Anchor Butter, but our legal case over Fonterra’s grassfed greenwash continues.”
“Fonterra has been misleading their customers about their Anchor butter being ‘100% New Zealand grass-fed’, when in reality up to 20% of a Fonterra dairy cow’s diet can be rainforest-destroying palm kernel imported from Southeast Asia. So we’re taking action to stop their grassfed lies – and that will continue even as Fonterra sells to Lactalis.”
The cost of butter has been a hot topic in recent weeks, but Deighton-O’Flynn says it’s not just New Zealanders who are paying the cost of Anchor Butter.
“Fonterra charges a premium for their ‘grass-fed’ butter – but it’s not just New Zealanders at the supermarket who are paying the price for that. In Southeast Asia, rainforests are being cut down to make way for palm plantations, which produce palm kernel to feed the oversized dairy herd.”
The palm oil industry has been linked to rainforest deforestation, human rights abuses, and destruction of rare wildlife habitats. But Greenpeace says Fonterra’s environmental destruction isn’t only occurring overseas.
“Fonterra is trashing lakes and rivers across the country, and contaminating rural people’s drinking water with dangerous levels of nitrate and E. Coli. While New Zealanders pay a premium for dairy products, Fonterra makes billions in revenue.”
“This is an industry that does not care about the health or wellbeing of everyday New Zealanders – Fonterra’s continued practices of intensive dairying are destroying the environment that we all hold dear.”
