Yes, Aldi uses Fairtrade, incorporating Fairtrade-certified products like bananas, coffee, cocoa, and flowers into its ranges and working with Fairtrade organizations to support farmers, improve supply chains, and promote ethical sourcing for better wages and conditions. They use certifications like Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance to ensure social and environmental standards are met, even investing in specific projects with cooperatives for long-term sustainability and farmer empowerment.
For years we have been working with our suppliers to increase the number of independently certified products we sell, such as bananas, cocoa, coffee and tea. To do this, we use schemes such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance.
Under the new initiative, all fresh produce suppliers who have a turnover of under £5 million will be offered new, quicker payment terms for the remainder of 2025. The changes take effect immediately and form part of Aldi's broader commitment to long-term, fair relationships with British growers.
While we don't raise animals or own or operate processing facilities, we're dedicated to ethically sourcing our meat, poultry, dairy and egg products. We aim to work with suppliers who share this commitment and understand we do not tolerate animal abuse or neglect throughout our supply chain.
Asda has been named as the worst of the UK's major supermarkets in its treatment of suppliers. It dropped below Morrisons, which was bottom of the list last year, as the Bradford-based chain took action to improve its performance according to a survey of more than 1,200 grocery suppliers by the industry watchdog.
Asda 40% – While it scored surprisingly well in our agriculture rating, Asda's ethical policies in general are very poor. Aldi 16% – Aldi's ethical ratings are even lower than its budget prices, with 0 marks for approaches to climate, animal rights, tax conduct and company ethos. Lidl 14%
One way to ensure social and environmental standards is through the use of independent certification schemes. All bananas offered in our European and US ALDI stores are certified. We either use the Rainforest Alliance standard or buy organic bananas with Fairtrade certification or GLOBALG.
Lidl GB sells over 100 different Fairtrade certified products throughout the year, from bananas originating from Colombia, to cocoa for our chocolate grown in Cote d'Ivoire.
M&S are one of the UK's leading Fairtrade retail supporters, having worked in partnership for almost two decades. Fairtrade producers in M&S's supply chains receive a fairer price for their crop and an additional Fairtrade Premium to spend on projects of their choice.
We expect to spend an additional £3.5bn a year with British suppliers by the end of 2025 and our core range of fresh everyday beef, pork, poultry, milk and eggs are sourced from British, Red Tractor or Lion Eggs approved farms.
M&S launched proceedings in December 2021 alleging that Aldi had infringed M&S' registered design rights in the bottles of its 'Snow Globe' range of gin through the distribution of Aldi's 'Infusionist' gin range (Marks and Spencer PLC v Aldi Stores Limited [2023] EWHC 178).
They said, for them to ripen, bananas are typically sent to a “Banana room.” Inside this room, they said, the baby banana is blasted with ethylene gas, which initiates the process of ripening. “If this process gets skipped or they don't hit them with enough or for too short a period, they will never ripen.
If you buy a banana with a four-digit code (4011 is the code for bananas) on the sticker, that banana was conventionally grown with the use of pesticides. All conventionally grown produce will have stickers with four digits.
Lidl was founded by Josef Schwarz, a German businessman who focused on opening grocery stores in his home country, and the chain didn't expand into more of Europe until 1977. Aldi, on the other hand, was founded by German brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht, who quickly expanded their grocery chain across the globe.
Our research highlights several ethical issues with Aldi, including failure to address major risks of workers' rights abuses in its fruit and vegetable supply chains, a lack of animal welfare policies, and likely use of tax avoidance strategies.
Yes, Lidl has a similar concept to Aldi's "Aisle of Shame," known as the "Middle of Lidl," featuring rotating, limited-time deals on surprise non-food and specialty grocery items like home goods, tools, apparel, and seasonal products, creating the same impulse-buy excitement. While Aldi calls it the "Aisle of Shame," Lidl's middle section offers similar unexpected finds, with new items dropping regularly and selling out fast.
The Aldi 2p rule is a policy at the supermarket, which is designed to keep it ahead of the retail pay curve. This was seen at the beginning of September 2025, when the pay for UK store assistants went up to £13.02 an hour, when it was originally expected to be £13.
