Supermarket chain Co-op, has announced it will stop selling produce from Israel following pressure from its members.
In a statement on Tuesday, the retailer said it will boycott products from 17 countries, including Israel, Iran, Yemen, Syria and Myanmar.
The chair of the retailer's board said the policy was about “doing the right thing”. Israeli carrots are expected to be removed from shelves later this month.
In a statement, Co-op said its decision formed part of an attempt to “stop sourcing relationships with countries where there are internationally recognised community-wide human rights abuses and violations of international law”.
Members were concerned that “Co-op should do all it can to advocate and build peace," according to the shop’s announcement of the policy on Tuesday.
“Responding to this clear call from members, the Co-op board initiated a review of Co-op’s role in building peace... The review also included the development of a sourcing policy aligned with established co-operative values, upholding human rights and the rule of law to promote fair trading and peace.”
The retailer said evidence from the United Nations was used to determine whether countries should be boycotted for human rights abuses.
“Products and ingredients on the prohibited list are ones which are clearly and solely sourced from the country of origin and include Russian vodka, mangoes from Mali, and carrots from Israel, and will be removed from Co-op shelves and products on a phased approach, starting from June 2025,” the chain said.
Sabra hummus is, however, still available on the Co-op website despite being a target of anti-Israel BDS campaigners.
Announcing the decision, chair of the Co-op group board, Debbie White, said the policy had been "developed over the past year".
“We are committed, where we can, to removing products and ingredients from our shelves which are sourced from those countries where the international consensus demonstrates there is not alignment with what happens in those countries and our co-operative values and principles.
“As a business, we have a long-standing legacy of doing the right thing, supporting Fairtrade and championing ethical sourcing and this policy is a natural progression of this," White said.
Last month, members of the Co-op movement backed an advisory motion for the supermarket to boycott Israeli products altogether. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign claimed the vote proved members would not support Israel’s “apartheid economy”.
The non-binding motion was accused of misquoting a study by The Lancet to claim that “at least 186,000 Gazans” had died in Gaza.
The supermarket previously announced it would not source products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The boycott of produce from Israel comes two days before Glastonbury, where Co-op is an official partner and operates an onsite shop selling essentials for festival goers.
