TikToker wins 'lumpy' oat milk war with Lidl

Luna has scored a victory for oat milk drinkers after convincing Lidl to recall a batch of the drink

A Scottish TikToker has won a victory against one of the UK's biggest food retailers after using her platform to campaign for a batch of "lumpy" oat milk to be removed.

Luna, known as @lunahtic, wanted Lidl to act on her concerns about its oat milk, and after a one-woman campaign, succeeded in having it recalled.

Her videos highlighting the problem won millions of views.

Lidl has now recalled all its oat milk with a use-by date in the next year.

It said fresh batches would be available in stores soon.

The 23-year-old student started monitoring the Lidl Just Free oat milk situation in August when she noticed a carton she had purchased was "lumpy" and "smelly".

In one video, Luna put the Lidl milk through a blender after comments from followers which suggested the milk just needed "a good shake"

"It's good milk and I've used it for years," she said. "I use four cartons every week and I had bought a big batch of it with the sell by date of 2022. But I noticed when I opened it it was full of lumps and really smelly.

"I thought it was just the one carton but tried a few more and they were all like that. On 15 August I contacted Lidl HQ and asked for a refund for the £11.20 I had spent on the milk.

"They never gave me a refund, but said their quality assurance team were looking into it. This went on for ages and I eventually got a refund for one carton."

By this point, Luna was concerned that the milk was still on sale. She took to her TikTok account to vent her frustration.

"Lots of people agreed with me and it got lots of views. But some people said I was storing it wrong, or it was lumps of oat, or I just needed to shake the carton, so I kept going back to buy the milk to show that it was off."

One of her videos went viral, racking up more than three million views in just a few days. To illustrate her concern, she dashes into the store, buys the milk and then pours out the carton outside to show the lumps.

She filmed herself cleaning up the mess afterwards.

Luna recorded an uncut video to illustrate her point

Luna said: "I did it to hopefully prove to people who were sceptical. Across the country people were tagging me in their videos of this milk and I thought they shouldn't be selling that."

The oat milk mission continued, with Luna contacting Lidl again.

She was sent £50 in vouchers for the store as a gesture to say the company was taking her concerns seriously, which she spent on items for a food bank.

More TikTok videos followed and more calls to Lidl HQ. Luna said she was told that the product would not be recalled because it was "not a health hazard".

The next step was to refer the issue to her local environmental health department. They agreed to investigate.

However, Monday brought a breakthrough - Luna revealed to her 57,000 followers that she had been sent paperwork which suggested the milk was finally being removed from stores.

An employee sent Luna a recall notice dated 6 October

One Lidl employee sent her a recall notice and gave her permission to share it.

She said: "This document shows that all Lidl oat milk in the UK up to the date stated on the letter has to be recalled.

"I spoke to my local Lidl store manager who did tell me the oat milk had been recalled. I was told that new batches of the same oat milk will be back on the shelves really soon and you can guarantee I'll be first in line."

Then, on Tuesday, her report to her local authority environmental health team brought results.

The reply said that they had spoken to colleagues at the London Borough of Bexley, which is the primary authority for Lidl UK stores, and they would look into the complaints.

Luna compared different brands

Lidl told the local authority: "Our latest oat milk withdrawal was last Wednesday which was sent to all regions. This was due to a number of complaints we had relating to the product being lumpy/white floating bits. Was confirmed not to be a health and safety risk."

A spokesman for Lidl told the BBC on Tuesday: "At Lidl, it is never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied in any way and we work very closely with our suppliers to ensure that the products in our stores are of the highest possible quality.

"Following customer feedback we have recalled the affected batch and the product will be back in stores very soon."

Luna said she was delighted her efforts had paid off.

"It's not very often you can get the attention of big company to do things and it might seem like a small thing but a lot of people had experienced the same issue."