One of the UK's leading investigative food journalists has called for a boycott of Israeli fresh produce in the wake of the recent troubles in Gaza.
Writing in the Sunday Herald and also on the Guardian.co.uk website, Joanna Blythman (pictured) said the country's 'cornucopia of fruit and vegetables represents a ready-made target for taking personal action in our daily lives to express disapproval at Israel's ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people'.
She continued: 'By refusing to buy Israeli produce, ethically-minded consumers can be part of the wider Boycott Israeli Goods campaign (BIG) and add to the international condemnation of Israel's tactics in Palestine.'
The comments are likely to raise anti-Israeli sentiment among consumers and may cause problems for suppliers of Israeli fruit to the UK market.
The Guardian website was visited by some 22.8m readers last month, while Scottish newspaper the Sunday Herald has a weekly circulation of under 50,000.
Israeli farmers reported last week that much of their produce was being held in warehouses due to cancelled orders. The country's producers are said to be concerned there may be a sharp decrease in fruit exports to countries such as Jordan, the UK and the Scandinavian countries.
Ilan Eshel, director of the Israel Fruit Growers Association, told the trade portal that the Gaza War had stirred interest in an existing boycott of Israeli produce. 'It's mostly Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,' he said.
However, Oded Yacovson, general manager of Agrexco UK, told Fruitnet.com his company had not seen a drop in sales.
“We have become used to the campaign to boycott Israeli goods over the last few years. But we are not involved in politics, only business. As long as we stay out of politics, there should be no problem. Consumers understand this situation.'
In Sweden, the Dagens Hyheter said wholesalers had not noticed any fall in the volume of Israeli produce being traded, although a number of isolated protests by consumers had been reported.
At the end of last week, the newspaper also revealed that several stores around Sweden had been caught mislabelling Israeli fresh produce.
Lidl was reported to have sold Israeli sharon fruits as Spanish, ICA stores in Malmö were alleged to have sold avocados from Israel as being from Kenya, and a Konsum store in central Stockholm apparently advertised Israeli peppers as coming from Spain, despite Israel being clearly identified on the cartons.
However, in each case the errors have been defended as innocent mistakes rather than deliberate attempts to deceive consumers.
The country's food industry watchdog is to investigate the matter.
In Holland, allegations that leading discount chains Aldi and Lidl may have made donations to Israel have been dismissed as false by both companies.
An SMS text message stating that the two companies would 'donate part of their profits to Israel' is understood to have been sent to members of the country's Moroccan community.
Although it is unclear how the rumours have affected the discounters, US coffee chain Starbucks – also named in the allegations – told the Dutch media the boycott had caused 'a downturn' in its business.
Meanwhile in South Africa, where Israeli supplies a number of counter-seasonal items including soft citrus, avocados, oranges and tomatoes, the Workers International Vanguard League has written to several of the country's leading food retailers asking them to remove Israeli products from their stores.
'The request is made as a matter of urgency especially in the light of the current genocidal actions by the Israeli army in Gaza,' said a spokesperson for the group, which addressed its concerns to the bosses of Pick 'n Pay, Woolworths, Spar and Shoprite-Checkers.
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