Co-operative Food makes switch to Fairtrade winter blueberries

The Co-operative Food is switching all of its fresh winter blueberries to Fairtrade from 25 November, so all of the retailer’s blueberries that can be Fairtrade, will be Fairtrade.

As part of The Co-operative’s Ethical Plan, which was launched last year, the group pledged that if products can be labelled as Fairtrade, they will be, and aims to have achieved 90% of this by the end of 2013. The blueberry move will take The Co-operative to 80% of this overall target by the end of 2012.

The retailer has also supported a “beyond Fairtrade” initiative with its Fairtrade honey supplier, Apicoop, to enable the Chilean co-operative to expand and strengthen its export of Fairtrade blueberries. In 2007, Traidcraft supported Apicoop to diversify into blueberries and The Co-operative has sourced its Fairtrade blueberries since 2011.

The Co-operative has supported Apicoop with a project to improve infrastructure and agricultural machinery to help them manage their increasing volumes of blueberries. In addition, the welfare of Apicoop’s workers has been improved through new accommodation and sanitation facilities.

The Co-operative introduced the world’s first Fairtrade fresh blueberries two years ago, with crops coming from Blue Mountain Berries in South Africa.

Source: Co-op