Fonterra has settled a suit with Greenpeace, after admitting grass-fed claims on the dairy group’s butter packaging could mislead consumers.
Greenpeace Aotearoa sued the company in 2024, alleging it breached the law by using ‘100% New Zealand’ and ‘Grass Fed’ claims on its Anchor butter label sold locally between December 2023 and April 2025.
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The environmental group argued the label was “misleading” as the cows’ diets included supplementary feed such as imported palm kernel.
In a statement today (1 April), Fonterra said it accepts the use of the two phrases ‘100% New Zealand’ and ‘Grass Fed’ in combination with each other was “likely to mislead” some consumers and violated the local Fair Trading Act.
“The claim did not concern the phrase ‘Grass Fed’ in isolation and Fonterra stands by its ‘Grass Fed’ claims.”
As part of the settlement, the firm has stopped using the ‘100% New Zealand Grass-Fed’ logo and updated the packaging to show only ‘Grass-Fed’.
Greenpeace spokesperson Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn called the Anchor butter packaging claim an “open-and-shut case of greenwashing”.
“Fonterra dairy cows can be fed up to 3 kilograms of palm kernel a day – an imported feed linked to rainforest destruction. Palm kernel is a dry, gravelly cow feed that comes from the destroyed paradise rainforests of Southeast Asia. It isn’t grass and to claim otherwise is misleading and deceptive,” Deighton-O’Flynn said.
Greenpeace called on Fonterra to phase out the use of palm kernel, noting that New Zealand imports over 2 million tonnes annually – largely to feed the dairy giant’s herd – which is linked to deforestation in Southeast Asia.
Deighton-O’Flynn said: “This admission from the world’s biggest dairy exporter is a win against corporate greenwash. It exposes the cynicism of Fonterra and its intensive dairy model: instead of ending its links to rainforest destruction, Fonterra just slapped a misleading label on its packaging and continued business as usual.”
The ownership of the Anchor brand has moved to French dairy giant Lactalis as part of Fonterra’s disposal of its global consumer dairy business.
