Strawberries are finally in season, and as tradition has it, Jordanian farmers have set up their food trucks on the side of the road, ready to sell their produce to the masses.

However, some customers have complained that those strawberries have been dyed red to make them seem more appealing.

The Ministry of Agriculture has dismissed their claims, noting that it isn’t “easy” to dye this type of fruit.

However, Mahmoud Al Oran, Head of the Jordan Farmers Union (JFU), has confirmed that farmers do in fact dye the fruit red when it’s still not ripe and when it’s green in colour, reported Al Ghad newspaper.

To make matters worse, Al Oran revealed that the dye being used is not fit for human consumption.

Maysoon Majdalawi told Al Ghad newspaper that after her kids ate strawberries from a box she had bought from a street vendor, she noticed that their lips were stained red. She said that she knew the strawberries were dyed with a synthetic dye, because it was difficult to get the colour off her kids' lips.

A source at the Ministry of Agriculture said that Jordanian farmers have resorted to heavily growing strawberries in the past few years because they are cheap to grow and make them a lot of money.

The source added that Jordan exports 1,265 tonnes of strawberries annually, noting that their most important clients include Holland, Lebanon, Qatar, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE.