Are you buying the fruits of occupation?

Consumer confidence has plunged as a result of the horsemeat scandal and supermarkets are desperately trying to reassure shoppers that the food we buy is safe and correctly labelled.

But mislabelling in supermarkets is actually a wider issue - and in the case of produce from illegal Israeli settlements it has been systematic and long-standing.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.

Their construction is a war crime. Nearly half the West Bank is now off-limits to Palestinians.

The British government has clearly stated that it views these settlements as illegal. Yet companies are still able to export produce from them to a supermarket near you.

The impact of the occupation and siege on Palestinian communities has been severe. Palestinian agriculture faces serious restrictions and many Palestinians are left with no option but to work in the illegal settlements.

In Gaza an assessment after Israel's 2008-9 assault found that 46 per cent of its agricultural land was inaccessible or out of production, sometimes due to the residue from phosphorus or the risk from artillery shells. It all drives farmers to work in settlements.

These workers earn on average less than the minimum wage stipulated by Israeli law and working conditions are extremely dangerous. Eleven-year-old children have been found working adult shifts in fruit-picking fields.

Farming in "buffer zones" carries great risks. In the two months following the "ceasefire" agreed after Israel's latest attack on Gaza last November, four Palestinians have been killed and 75 injured in these areas.

Many shoppers who wish to buy ethically avoid buying from suppliers who profit from the crimes of occupation.

To do that you need to know where the food you buy is coming from - and the last Labour government brought in voluntary labelling guidance to allow people to distinguish between Palestinian produce, settlement produce and Israeli produce.

But settlement goods are still sneaking into our shopping baskets under the label "produce of Israel."

Indeed, researchers from Corporate Watch have exposed a number of cases of mislabelling, including finding Morrison's own-label dates packaged inside the illegal Israeli settlement of Tomer which stated that the dates were "produce of Israel."

This issue has been raised in Parliament and by the UN human rights council, but no action has been taken to prevent it.

Action to end international complicity with the destruction of Palestinian agriculture is essential - and trade unions have taken up the call to end the selling of goods by companies which profit from the occupation, the settlements or the apartheid wall.

Palestinian organisations and trade unions fighting for farmers struggling for their right to their land and to food sovereignty point out that "for Palestinians, farming is tied to identity, history and resistance to Israel's illegal occupation."

That's why representatives from seven British trade unions have signed a letter in today's Morning Star calling for action.

Pressure is growing to end trade with companies such as Mehadrin and Hadiklaim which operate in the settlements. On February 9 protests organised by local Palestine Solidarity Campaign branches and other groups took place outside supermarkets across the country, with Sainsbury's a particular focus. Thousands of emails have been sent to supermarket CEOs calling them to follow the Co-operative's lead in implementing an ethical sourcing policy, not using companies which deal in produce from the settlements.

Please join us - ask your supermarket to stop using companies which profit from the illegal occupation.

• Sarah Colborne is director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
• nFor more details visit www.palestinecampaign.org or check out the briefing paper on Palestinian farming from Palestinian organisations and trade unions at www.bdsmovement.net/files/2013/-2/Farming-Injustice-Briefing-Feb2013.web.pdf.