Greenfields

Thunderblue888

Google

Mar 6, 2025

5

I applaud Greenfields from the rooftops! Greenfields Palestinian Medjool Dates. Recently I had purchased these dates supplied by Greenfields at my local Tesco Superstore in Lewisham and then shared a post via 60 groups on Facebook, encouraging people to purchase these dates 'from Palestine.' The response and 'reaction' was way beyond anything I had previously shared. 'POSITIVE' in caps lock. 'negative' in lower case. The post along with my own research created a wealth of information. HOWEVER: 'Many dates in reality are grown by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, however often the packaging does not display the flag of Isreal, subsequently many people have been duped in the mistaken belief that they are purchasing dates grown by the Palestinian people.' The question of 'origin' had been raised by a number of people. DOUBT: I soon realised that for my own peace of mind and the many who had observed my post, that the true origin of these dates needed to be verified. On the 28th February with much trepidation I visited Greenfields 25 Crawford St, W1H 1PL near Baker Street, a shop specialising in Middle Eastern produce and spices. I asked to speak to the manager. Presenting a quite depleted box of Greenfileds dates, I then asked Mahmoud about the origin, within moments he made a call, my heart was sinking. Mahmoud then showed me on his phone 'From the Palestinian Authority this phytosanitary certificate confirms the origin is Palestine.' (A phytosanitary certificate is a document that verifies that plants and plant products meet import requirements. It's issued by the plant health authority in the country of export. ) I then explained about the post I had made, the unanswered questions, and that apart from www.greenfieldsuk.co.uk I could find no reference to these dates. 'This is a very new product and these dates have only been in the UK for the last month. We are from Egypt and we always verify the true origin of our products.' Mahmoud then confirmed that they were supplying Tesco and Asda UK wide. The manager was not in any way evasive and I felt entirely satisfied about the true origin of the dates. On leaving I thanked Mahmoud and he took a photo of me outside of the shop holding up a box a Palestinian dates, lol then I bought two more boxes. BTW This shop has a vast range of products from The Middle East at reasonable prices and with most polite and helpful staff.