Israeli produce in sheeps clothing

Sunday August 25, 2002 11:38

by James McKenna

For a couple of months now I have been attempting to have Israeli vegetables in my local supermarkets labelled correctly.

First I bought an avacado in Skibbereen which was marked "Irish" but had a
"Carmel" sticker from Israel on the fruit itself.
This was a mistake I was told. In that supermarket the Israeli produce is
denoted only by a very illegable handwritten sigh some 7' high above the fruit
section only, a failure to provide particulars of origin to a material degree.

In the Co-op store in Skibbereen there were grapefruits marked Cuba and
Swaziland with the individual fruit stickers removed, except for the odd one or
two where "Jaffa" was clearly visible.
I told the store and they said "Oh, that was a mistake, we will relabel
correctly". Two weeks later in the same store I encountered the exact same fruit
and incorrect labelling to be told " Oh, it was a mistake, we will relabel".
Delayed at the checkout I walked back up the fruit isle 10 mins later and there
was the manager slipping the "cuba" label back and removing the few individual
fruit stickers they had missed the first time . I politely informed her it was
illegal and she just walked off with the labels in her hand. She hid!

In Bantry this week I picked up a mango from a box marked "Brazil" and found a
"Carmel, produce of Israel" sticker. I brought it to the manager who said " Oh ,
that's a mistake, we had Israeli mangos last week and sometimes one is left over
in the new box". Hmmmmm! My wife watched him as he removed the individual fruit
sticker and placed the Israeli mango back in the Brazilian box. I wish we had a
camera. I wonder if the advertising agencies who spend thousands trying to
create an image of a friendly helpful supermarket would think this sort of
practice worth featuring?

This is but a couple of the great many instances in all supermarkets which I
have been, I will not go on and on . I find that the fuits with the individual
labels removed are worth looking at further and occaisionally you will find one
or two in the bottom of the box with and Israeli sticker.

The legislation is :

Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th March
2000. The Eurlex site has it under "Legislation in force". Click the
"Legislation " not "In force" and enter the number- 2000/13- and date- 20th
march 2000- to find it in full.

It states:

Article 1. The directive concerns the labelling of foodstuffs to be delivered as
such to the ultimate consumer....

Article 2. (1) The labelling and methods used must not: (a) be such as to
mislead the customer to a material degree, particularly: (i) as to the
characteristics of the foodstuff and , in particular as to the nature, identity
, properties, composition, quantity, durability, ORIGIN, or provenance, method
of manufacture of production.

Article 3. In accordance with Article 14 to 17 and subject to the exceptions
contained therin, indication of the following particulars alone should be
COMPULSORY on the labelling of foodstuffs.

(8) Partculars of the PLACE OF ORIGIN or provenance where failure to give such
particulars might MISLEAD THE CUSTOMER to a material degree as to the true
origin or provenanve of the foodstuffs

I made a report to the department of agriculture in Cork (021 4545377) on
William Larkin some weeks ago. This week I again contacted Gerry Heskin in the
Dept Agri cork who said the inspector John McCarthy had been out to
inspect.....obviously to no avail!

Gerry Heskin, by way of explain why the manager in Bantry had removed the
sticker from the Mango said such labels on apples for instance could be a
danger to children if they did not remove it before eating!!!! He says to me...
" Sometimes , if I was driving along I might be eating an apple and not see the
sticker and you know you could nearly choke or have and accident coughing when
you would not see the label. We often get complaints from people about this"...
I ask you, what sort of a smokescreen is this? From the Department of
Agriculatre ? I waited for him to finishish waffling about apple labels for ten
minutes before reminding him that Magnos are not eaten skin-an-all ,but in the
store in Bantry, the apples and other soft skinned fruit beside the incorrectly
marked mangos had not had their stickers removed.

Mr Hesin did however let it slip that "THE DEPARTMENT IS SEEKING A MEETING WITH
MUSGRAVES ABOUT THIS". I know Musgrave are the suppliers to all the outlets
where I found this consistent effort to conceal Israeli origin but does the
department suspect they are giving directions to outlets on how to conceal the
identity of the obviously cheap Israeli produce. William Larkin said some weeks
ago when I spoke to him about this and mused that the similarity in the methods
of misleading the customer found across Cork suggested a central
direction/advice from Musgraves " we would have to be very careful about making
such allegations". HMMMM?

What can we do ? It's amazing that when you say "South African oranges" and
"aparthide" the words "Dunnes Stores" comes to mind, at least for my generation.
Almost twenty years later Dunnes Stores is still on peoples minds as suppliers
of aparthide produce. Will Musgraves be similarly shamed and associated with the
Israeli blood produce of illegally occupied land?