LONDON – Tesco, the UK’s largest food retailer, has strongly rejected claims that the Gaza crisis is forcing it to stop selling Israeli produce and products, saying that in the case of Israeli dates packaged under its own label it had decided to stop selling them in September “for commercial reasons.”
According to the grocery chain, the dates are grown in Israel but packaged in the West Bank.
“It is clearly marked as “West Bank (Israeli settlement produce)” so customers are fully aware of what they are buying,” a spokesman told The Jerusalem Post. “As part of our regular review of our range, we will not be selling this product for much longer.”
The spokesman said that in line with the recent request from the British government on “origin of food” labeling, the dates have to be marked and sold as such, and as Tesco customers have been asking for such information, the company has to supply it.
Nevertheless, he emphasized that the decision had nothing to do with Gaza and that any report to the contrary was “erroneous.”
“Like all major UK retailers we sell some products that are sourced from Israel,” he said.
“We do this in line with the government position on trade with Israel, and we mark all products clearly with the country of origin so customers can make informed choices about what to buy.”
Read the full story: www.jpost.com
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