Three Lidl supermarkets - in Sta Venera, Luqa and San Ġwann - open their doors to the public this morning following an official opening and blessing at the Luqa store yesterday afternoon. The stores, which provide a variety of some 1,100 products, will have different special offers on Mondays and Thursdays, country manager David Gatt said yesterday.

The company operating Lidl, the fourth largest in Europe, believes in the concept of offering the best quality at the lowest prices and in simplicity and efficiency.

Mr Gatt said that the company was ensuring that the products offered locally matched traditional Maltese food and drink consumption and besides the foods imported from Italy, the UK and other European countries, there are also local products on the shelves including the traditional kunserva, a selection of Maltese bread, milk and yoghurts.

All fruit are, however, imported. Meat is fresh and brought over to the island daily. Since it is fresh it has a short shelf life but all non-fresh products with an expiry date have to have a remaining shelf life of at least two months in order to be sold.

Mr Gatt said that in line with the company's environmental and social aims, all its fish products come from sustainable fishing and it is also offering fair traded products.

The company will be recycling all plastic and carton and will be charging for plastic bags in a bid to encourage re-use and to reduce waste. The plastic bags offered by Lidl, Mr Gatt said, were sturdy enough to be re-used.

Lidl's Safi store, which has been dogged by controversy since it was built in an outside development zone, is scheduled for opening in October. The company has distanced itself from the scandal saying it was just an operator and had never been involved in the permit application process.