Customers Upset After Lidl Supermarket Removes Christian Symbol From Food Packaging

Lidl supermarket has removed the cross from atop the Anastasis Church on the packaging of their Eridanous brand of Greek food products, and people are taking notice.

The white cross is conspicuously absent from one of the world-famous church's picturesque blue domes in the current package design. Some customers have expressed their outrage over Lidl's decision via the supermarket chain's Facebook pages.

"How very disappointing to see your marketing team have decided to airbrush the crosses from the domes of the Greek Orthodox churches. This is a huge insult to Christians worldwide who have identified with the cross since the formation of the early Church. I fail to see what you had hoped to accomplish, we will not be shopping at Lidl until the crosses have been restored. Did you think such a change would go unnoticed or did you think people didn't care enough to complain?" commented Lennox Moore on the Lidl UK Facebook page.

UK Lidl shopper Andrew Kanias wrote, "As a Greek and a Christian I'm totally disgusted with Lidl as I find this an insult to our faith. I am a member of a Greek group with 8000 members on Facebook and have notified them about this and told them to share and to let other Greeks and Christians know what you are doing."

The brand says it does not carry any products that depict religious iconography, and by erasing the Christian symbol they hoped to maintain a neutral position. A spokesperson for the supermarket chain expressed to RT that their intent was never to anger anyone, and that their designs change all the time.

"We have been selling our popular Eridanous range for over 10 years in our stores all over Europe. During this time there were always changes to the packaging design. We are very sorry that the current design makes for displeasure, there is no evil intent behind it. We will pass on the feedback and take this into account when designing future packaging," the spokesperson told the Russian government-sponsored website.

"We avoid the use of religious symbols on our packaging to maintain neutrality in all religions. If it has been perceived differently, we apologize to those who may have been shocked."

If you've never heard of Lidl, you're about to. The supermarket chain is coming to America.