Iceland came bottom of the 2021 ranking, taking tenth place. This echoes the company’s ranking position in 2019 when it came in ninth (beating just one other supermarket which did not respond to the survey). In the past two years, Iceland has improved its efforts to engage with customers on issues linked to reducing pesticide use. However, the company is still not doing enough to support its suppliers to use non-chemical alternatives, protect bees and pollinators or phase out the most hazardous pesticides. In common with all other UK supermarkets, Iceland could be doing more to reduce pesticide-related harms in its global supply chains.

When last surveyed in 2019, Iceland was failing to take any of the three key actions which enable supermarkets to involve their customers in helping them to reduce pesticide use in their supply chains. Iceland have since made some improvements, and told PAN UK that they are taking the following actions:

• Iceland now only uses ‘imperfect’ vegetables in its frozen range, thereby reducing the need for cosmetic pesticides. It has a section on its website explaining the benefits of this approach which does not mention pesticides but instead states that the company aims to “avoid much of the waste caused by the quest for perfect-looking vegetables in fresh displays”.
• The company has launched its “Power Of Frozen” campaign which explains to customers that fresh food can be frozen within the season when it’s most abundant, thereby reducing waste. This promotes some sense of seasonality and reduces the need for fungicides which prevent fresh produce from rotting while they are being transported.
• Iceland told PAN UK that it does not encourage customers to accept finding the odd bug in fresh produce. This is a missed opportunity since customer complaints about insects can often hold a supermarket back from reducing its pesticide use. However, once shoppers understand that there is a bug in their lettuce (for example) because it has been grown with fewer chemicals, they tend to be supportive. It should be noted, however, that Iceland does sell significantly less fresh fruit and vegetables than most other supermarkets.

Since 2019, Iceland has made no changes to its approach to tackling highly hazardous pesticides. The company continues to make no proactive efforts to phase out the most hazardous pesticides from its global supply chains. Iceland is now the only major UK supermarket that does not have lists of pesticides that are monitored, restricted or banned from use in their supply chains due to their potential to cause harm (although Iceland did say this was “under review”). Instead, the company only takes action to remove a pesticide from its global supply chains if it has been banned by national regulators. In other words, the company does nothing beyond operating within the law. Iceland did tell PAN UK that its ‘plant protection policy’, which is issued to all suppliers, does reference the PAN International List of Highly Hazardous Pesticides. However, the policy is not available to the public and hasn’t been provided to PAN UK so this has not been verified.

Iceland has not implemented any new measures to help its suppliers reduce their reliance on pesticides since the last survey in 2019. Unlike many other supermarkets it does not offer its suppliers training or advice on reducing pesticide use or conduct research into non-chemical alternatives. It also doesn’t run grower groups designed to bring farmers together to share tips and advice on pesticide reduction, but did tell PAN UK that this was “under review”. The company also stated that it makes efforts to reduce post-harvest use of pesticides through a range of measures, including using biopesticides and non-chemical treatment for rots. Some of their key suppliers have been trialling new methods aimed at decreasing the need to use fungicides (which prevent fresh produce from rotting). However, overall Iceland could be doing much more to support its suppliers to adopt non-chemical alternatives to pesticides.

Iceland has made limited changes to its approach to tackling pesticide residues. The supermarket continues to test a range of food items including fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, dried fruit and wheat products such as bread and pasta. It has also expanded its testing programme to include cereals, herbs, legumes and nuts. However, despite testing a relatively wide selection of products, Iceland is the only major UK supermarket that does not have any action plans in place for tackling the most serious residue problems. It is also missing a major opportunity by not using the results of its residue testing programme to inform which pesticides to prioritise for phase out, or to identify which of its suppliers need greater support to switch to non-chemical alternatives.

Iceland has made no progress in reducing the harm caused to bees and other pollinators by pesticides, and the company is still not taking enough action. Iceland told PAN UK that it relies on its suppliers to encourage growers to adopt pollinator-friendly measures and to identify and restrict the use of pesticides which are harmful to pollinators. Iceland urgently needs to follow the example of many other supermarkets by doing more in-house to protect pollinators instead of leaving it to third parties. The company is currently making no effort to phase out or even reduce the use of bee-toxic neonicotinoids in its supply chains. It doesn’t proactively support or fund research into pollinator-friendly practices, or ask its suppliers to monitor pollinator activity.

Iceland has made no improvements in terms of its level of transparency regarding pesticides. However, the company has told PAN UK that its transparency measures are “currently under review”. In the meantime, Iceland continues to be one of the least transparent supermarkets on pesticides. It does not have any information on its website and does not publish its pesticide policy or the results of its residue testing programme. As a result, Iceland’s customers continue to have no way of finding out about the company’s approach to pesticides or which pesticide residues appear in the food on Iceland’s shelves.

Iceland stocks the smallest range of organic produce of any of the UK’s major supermarkets with only organic eggs on offer. The media reported that Iceland went 100 percent organic on all frozen fruit and vegetables in 2001 at no extra cost to the consumer, but did a U-turn on this policy in 2002. Iceland told PAN UK that it has no plans to increase organic sales and is not making efforts to communicate the benefits of buying organic to the public. Iceland also has no measures in place to support its non-organic suppliers to convert to organic production.

Iceland does not sell gardening products and was therefore not scored on this topic.