Waitrose has hit back at accusations it has been hiding the truth over products originating in illegal Israeli settlements.
Charity War on Want accused the upmarket retailer of misleading customers in its claims to have ceased stocking goods from illegal Israeli settlements, but Waitrose vehemently denied changing its stance.
The charity claimed Waitrose has said it was ‘untrue’ that it stocked products from the settlements and that continuing to sell products such as halva from a company in the Barkan settlement of the West Bank contravened this.
But a spokesperson for Waitrose told freshinfo that the products were clearly marked as coming from the West Bank and that War on Want protestors had wrongly claimed that Waitrose products with ‘from Israel’ on are “probably from the West Bank”.
The spokesperson said: “This claim is completely untrue - our labelling is always honest and transparent. Any Waitrose product labelled as coming from 'Israel' comes from internationally recognised (pre-1967) borders.
“We contacted War on Want to correct these factual inaccuracies - we were simply being helpful, ensuring War on Want correctly understood the situation after we saw this video.
"We are always honest and we would never mislead - we contacted War on Want's campaigns director simply to correct inaccurate claims they were making about our own-label fruit and veg.
“We never discussed with War on Want a 'ban' on selling any products. As they say themselves, the Achva product is clearly labelled as coming from the West Bank, enabling customers to make an informed decision based on their own beliefs.”
War on Want executive director John Hilary said: "It is unacceptable for Waitrose to stock products from illegal Israeli settlements. This makes it complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Waitrose should live up to its ethical claims and stop stocking any goods from illegal Israeli settlements or it will continue to face protests."
The criticism from War on Want comes only four months after the UK government introduced voluntary guidance on the labelling of fresh produce from settlements.
Waitrose states that it has stopped sourcing herbs from Israeli settlements under its own-brand label, which War on Want welcomed.
Earlier this year, the UK government expressed its concerns at the traceability of all products marked ‘made in Israel’ and admitted that shoppers cannot be completely sure that supermarket goods labelled this way are not sourced from settlers’ farms.
In a parliamentary adjournment debate on the EU-Israel Association Agreement on 27 January, Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: "In June 2008, Revenue and Customs received information that suggested that the fact that an Israeli place of production and postcode is included on the proof of preferential origin does not necessarily mean that the products concerned - notably fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs - originated in Israel. There were concerns that the location and code may simply refer to a company’s head office or distribution centre in the state, the produce concerned having actually been grown or produced on a farm in a settlement.”
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