As a result, the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons is calling for 'safety labels' to be popped on avocados everywhere.

“People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them,” said Simon Eccles, secretary of the association and former president of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Adding that he treats four people a week for avocado-related injuries, he continued: “We don’t want to put people off the fruit but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this. It needs to be recognisable.

“Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?”

‘Avocado hand’: the serious injury afflicting middle-class brunchers everywhere