Shoppers at Switzerland’s Coop supermarket will be offered the chance to purchase chicken breast, minced meat and other products that have been frozen on their use-by date for a discount of fifty per cent. 

The meat will remain on sale, frozen, for ninety days.

The trial will be taking place at 14 locations across the cantons of Aargau, Basel-City, Basel-Land and Solothurn.

If the project is successful, says Coop media spokesperson Sina Gebel, it will be rolled out to further outlets across the country. 

Coop not doing enough: Greenpeace

The announcement of the project comes as the chain, along with rival Migros, was singled out by Greenpeace for not doing enough to combat food wastage and climate change – two issues that are inextricably linked. 

A statement published by the environmentalist group last week noted: “The greenhouse gas emissions of Coop and Migros are impressive: around 30 per cent of the total Swiss carbon footprint is sold by the two corporate groups. 

“According to their information, animal products account for 47 percent of the total emissions at the Coop Group. At the Migros Group.”

Barbara Wegmann, Greenpeace’s consumer expert, added: “From today’s perspective, it is completely unclear how the two companies can achieve their climate goals. At the same time, our analysis shows that there is no way around reducing the range of animal products. 

“Migros and Coop can no longer blame their customers for climate responsibility. Instead, we call on the companies to sell fewer animal products and promote plant-based products.”

Food wastage is still a Swiss problem

While Switzerland places low on the list of European countries in terms of food wastage per capita, it’s still a problem. 

According to a  2019 study by ETH Zurichm and Beretta and Hellweg, approximately 2,8 million tonnes of food is lost between the point of origin and the place each year – roughly a third of all the food produced.

This led to the country introducing a framework to combat food wastage across the country in 2022, and in 2024, laws were changed to allow the donation of more foodstuffs to charitable organisations.