Chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli is facing allegations of chocolate destruction in Germany. According to media reports, Lindt employees are said to have made their chocolate products unsellable so they don’t have to lower prices. Lindt is talking about an isolated case.
According to a report by T-Online on Thursday, Lindt products, especially those whose expiration date (MHD) is nearing soon, have been damaged by the company’s sales team with box knives or ballpoint pens. The article goes on to say that this practice happens again and again. The media published several photos of chocolate products allegedly destroyed on purpose to confirm the claims.
Destroy rather than lower prices
As a result, the chocolate can no longer be resold or given away. The branch manager of an Edeka branch suspects that the group’s involvement in the sale is behind the procedure: Prices should not be lowered because customers can no longer buy products at full price.
But this is an isolated case, according to a spokesperson for Lindt & Sprüngli. We talked to the employee responsible for the processes in detail before. Marking with a cardboard knife described in the article does not comply with the usual procedure known to all employees.
Normally, as the spokesperson explained, goods that are about to expire are regularly withdrawn from the market. Retailers are paid for goods and then sold to Lindt Factory Outlets. “Only a small portion of these goods remain at the dealership and are marked as unsellable by our sales department so that near-expiry goods are not sold by mistake,” the spokesperson said.
Such a procedure is not possible in Switzerland
In such cases, the barcode is crossed out and marked on the front with a permanent marker. “This way, we ensure that the trade is given to charities or employees of the trade partner,” he said.
Incidentally, such a situation could not occur in Switzerland. Unlike in Germany, the retailers themselves are responsible for the goods on the market in this country, not the Lindt employees.(SDA/shq)