In November 2020, Ethical Consumer viewed Lidl UK's website for its animal testing policy. The company's Farm Animal Health and Welfare Policy (2020) was viewed.

This policy stated:

"At Lidl GB we do not support animal testing and recognise that our customers are strongly opposed to the use of animals for the testing and development of products. For this reason and in compliance with the 2013 EU ban on animal testing, we do not carry out or commission any such testing on our own-brand products or the ingredients they contain. Suppliers to Lidl GB must ensure that cosmetic and personal care products, including their ingredients, have not been tested on animals with the cut-off-date of March 2013 or earlier."

The company received Ethical Consumer's best rating for Animal Testing.

In November 2020, Ethical Consumer searched the Lidl website and found that the company sold meat products not labelled as free range or organic.

Due to the fact that Aldi was selling meat and dairy that were not labelled organic or free-range it lost a whole mark under Animal Rights and a whole mark under Factory Farming.

In December 2019 Ethical Consumer viewed an article on the Independent website titled "Nando’s and Asda chicken: Birds ‘stepped on and left convulsing and wounded in scenes of suffering and cannibalism" and dated May 2019.

It reported: "Workers on chicken farms supplying Nando’s, Asda and Lidl have been filmed leaving a bird convulsing after breaking its neck, stepping on the animals necks and throwing sick ones onto piles, footage from an animal rights group shows."

It went on to report that "The “harrowing scenes of painful abuse” were shot in two separate investigations at farms run by one of the UK’s largest food businesses and endorsed by the Red Tractor scheme."

Lidl responded: ""Lidl referred to a British Retail Consortium statement that said: “Our members take their responsibilities to animal welfare very seriously. “Any breaches to animal welfare are totally unacceptable and should be investigated immediately, with swift action taken to rectify any issues.”"

As a result the company lost a whole mark under Animal Rights and a whole mark under Factory Farming.

In November 2020 Ethical Consumer viewed Lidl's website for a policy on bee welfare. No information could be found. Due to bee welfare issues associated with honey production such as bee mutilation and the killing of drones, colonies or brood to ensure maximum honey yield, Ethical Consumer felt it necessary for companies selling own brand honey to have a policy ensuring this was not happening in their supply chain.
The company lost half a mark under Animal Rights.