”Mid-May – pasteurised milk for free!”

With political manoeuvring, media campaigns and illegal sales, Gottlieb Duttweiler fought for years for the liberalisation of the milk industry. By the time the sale of pasteurised milk was finally approved in 1964, he had sadly already passed away.

The so-called milk decision in 1953 decrees that the milk industry will continue to be regulated by the government - above all, with a fixed price and a limited number of sales outlets. Only those retailers who also deliver milk to the customers’ homes are permitted to sell milk. As the milkman service no longer covers its own costs, it is co-financed by the sale of milk in the shop. The Milk Association argues that this system is the only way to guarantee home delivery and with it, the greatest possible sale of milk.
Wholesalers such as Migros are excluded from this system, even though Gottlieb Duttweiler had tried for many years to obtain permission to sell pasteurised milk. With illegal sales, he provokes the milk lobby and authorities, organises unauthorised free milk campaigns and launches petitions for the liberalisation of the sale of pasteurised milk.

Only in 1964, two years after Gottlieb Duttweiler’s death, the milk industry is beginning to change . The Parliament decides, by a great majority, to liberalise the sale of pasteurised milk. At last, Migros can sell milk throughout Switzerland. But the Landesring der Unabhängigen, the political party founded by Duttweiler, starts a referendum. The party disapproves of the minimum price for milk which is also part of the ”pasteurised milk order”. This policy is not in the interest of the wholesaler Migros, which can undercut the dairies’ prices.
A wide political coalition counters the Migros party’s referendum with the slogan: ”Mid-May – pasteurised milk for free!“ But the voters seem to have lost interest in refining the milk war. With an electoral participation rate of miserable 37.2%, they clearly turn down the referendum in May 1965.
In its annual report for 1965, however, Migros takes a positive attitude: ”Our huge efforts and the fight in this sector have paid off.”