British food retailer the Co-op Group will cease sourcing products and ingredients from 17 countries, including Israel, where there are “internationally recognised” human rights abuses and violations of international law, Reuters reports.
The Co-op, which is owned by its members and trades from over 2,300 food stores across the UK, said it would stop selling carrots from Israel from this month as part of a commitment to no longer stock Israeli goods.
The company’s prohibited list, which also includes Russian vodka and mangoes from Mali, follows a board review of Co-op’s role “in building peace”.
Other countries on the Co-op list include Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Libya and Syria.
“The voices of our members have been listened to and then acted upon,” Debbie White, chair of the Co-op Group board, said.
“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.”