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Activists are calling on the group to drop its case to recover the 27-year-old debt ahead of an arbitration hearing by the international court for the settlement of investment disputes later this month.
The row is reminiscent of the furore that greeted Nestlé's recent attempts to recoup money from the government of Ethiopia. Nestlé dropped its demand following a public outcry.
At issue is compensation for the nationalisation of Guyana's sugar industry - then owned by Booker - in 1976.
Guyana, where average income is said to be £1.50 a day, has paid back about £6.2m of the original £13m debt but defaulted on payments in 1989 in the face of the Latin American currency crisis. With interest, the amount still owed has risen to £12.1m.
Big Food Group - which took over Booker three years ago - is hoping the matter will be resolved at the London arbitration hearing but is coming under mounting pressure to drop its claim.
Ashok Sinha of the Jubilee Debt Campaign said Guyana was one of the world's poorest countries and was receiving debt relief on money owed to the World Bank and to countries including Britain. "It hasn't been granted debt relief by the international community just so that Iceland can pick up a slice of the proceeds," he said yesterday.
"The money from this relief needs to be spent on attacking poverty not marginally improving the Big Food Group's bottom line."
Big Food Group declined to comment on the campaign but sources close to the company stressed it was not taking legal action to recoup the money. It had reached agreement with Guyana to take the matter to arbitration and was aware of its responsibilities. The sources said Booker had developed the country's sugar industry over decades and had invested money in schools and hospitals there. The nationalised assets were now thought to be worth more than £800m.