The Channel Islands Co-op has confirmed it will be removing Israeli products from its shelves as the result of the active conflict in the region.
Following a move by the national Co-op Group, the local supermarket said it will begin a “phased process” to axe certain items from the country, following concerns and feedback from members.
Co-op Group – which operates 2,300 food stores – launched a policy in 2023 to avoid trading relationships with countries where there is “internationally recognised community-wide human rights abuses or violations of international law”.
After a year of “detailed analysis”, the national company this week announced that Israel will join the list of 16 other countries including Russia, Iran, Syria, Belarus, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan.
It will come as good news for some islanders who, at last month’s annual general meeting of members, urged CI Co-op to stop sourcing produts from the area.
In a statement from CI Co-op CEO Mark Cox, the local company said it is “aligned with the co-operative values and ethical sourcing commitments” of the Co-op Group.
The removal of products “will have an impact” on what is sold locally, the statement added.
It continued: “Products that can be clearly identified as being produced by, or containing ingredients from, listed countries will be removed in a phased process, respecting both the logistics and contractual agreements we have in place.”
The statement added that the national policy and the list of countries are reviewed on a regular basis, but explained that due to global food sourcing systems, it makes it “virtually impossible” to isolate the country of origin for certain products.
“A complete boycott of every ingredient used in all products is therefore not practically feasible”, it added.