The Magnum Ice Cream Company has determined that the chair of its Ben & Jerry’s brand “no longer meets the criteria” to serve on the board, according to an SEC filing published Monday and quoted by Reuters.
The decision follows internal investigations and comes as tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company Unilever continue to escalate.
Magnum did not name board chair Anuradha Mittal in the filing and gave no details about the criteria she failed to meet. The company did not respond to requests for comment, and Mittal could not immediately be reached.
The ice cream venture, which includes the Wall’s and Cornetto brands alongside Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s, is being spun off from Unilever with a primary listing in Amsterdam now scheduled for December 8.
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at odds since 2021, when the Vermont-based brand announced it would halt sales in Judea and Samaria.
At the time, Mittal denied that the company’s decision to stop selling its ice cream in Judea and Samaria was antisemitic, writing, “I am proud of Ben & Jerry’s for taking a stance to end sale of its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Later that year, Mittal was voted "Antisemite of the Year" by watchdog StopAntisemitism, which cited Mittal being the driving force behind the decision by Ben & Jerry's to stop selling its products in Judea and Samaria.
In January of this year, Ben & Jerry's initiated legal action against Unilever, alleging attempts to silence its outspoken stance on Gaza and its past criticisms of President Donald Trump.
In May, the board of Ben & Jerry's escalated its bitter feud with Unilever by publicly labeling the ongoing conflict in Gaza as "genocide".