IDM ¦ Editorial
Money-grubbing
in inflation
July/August 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com · 3
The VLOG seal should be dropped
For many years, the VLOG seal was a huge success - first and foremost, of course, for the
seal's owner. In 2019, the German VLOG association reported an increase in sales of appropriately
labelled GMO-free products in German food retail by a whopping 15% year-on-year to an estimated
€ 11.3 billion. In 2020, the figure was already €12.6 billion. However, this was not because consumers
were increasingly reaching for such products, but rather because retailers forced their suppliers to
apply for seals for more and more of their products (and to pay for them; in German retail, € 9.3 billion
worth of dairy bore the VLOG seal in 2021). For food retailers, however, this has long since ceased to
be an opportunity for differentiation - after all, all competitors now stock products with the VLOG
label. It can be assumed that retail managers are more concerned with maintaining the sustainability
profile of their respective chains at the expense of the producers and avoiding a shitstorm if they
suddenly declare VLOG obsolete for their business. The label has always been irrelevant for sales, but
hardly anyone wants to admit this, having ridden out the run on GMO-free in the first years.
Perhaps VLOG’s motives were noble in 2010, but in the meantime VLOG has become a money
printing machine, Greenpeace, whose offshoot VLOG can safely be called, sends its regards.
According to the official VLOG fee scale, 0.015 to 0.035 percent of the relevant turnover is due. For a
million euros, that is up to € 350 in licence fees, so that the association, with an estimated income of
probably € 3 to € 4 million in fees, is definitely a big ship among the licence fee collectors in Germany.
For the trademark users, certification fees come on top of that. This also explains the aggressiveness
with which VLOG presses for compliance with its standards, supply crisis due to the Ukraine war and
all. On the contrary, it is claimed that Ukraine does not expect any decline in its GMO-free rapeseed
exports for 2022. It is even insinuated that there would be no shortage of GMO-free feed at all, if only
sufficient fair payment were made.
In sum: VLOG has outlived its usefulness for the vast majority of products. In times of rampant food
price inflation, the label does not promote sales at all, but only increases the price. Neither the farmers
and dairies nor retailers benefit from it. And certainly not the consumers, who are forced to spend less
and less money on the noble ideal of GMO-free food. The VLOG label can go, says Roland Sossna.
Roland Sossna
Editor IDM
International Dairy Magazine
sossna@blmedien.de
international-dairy.com
/www.drinktec.com
/international-dairy.com
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