COPENHAGEN, Denmark: The Saudi government has recalled its ambassador to Denmark in protest at the Danish government's position on the publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) by a best-selling newspaper.

A Saudi government spokesman said Thursday the ambassador had been recalled “for consultations in light of the Danish government's lack of attention to insulting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) by its newspapers".

Some of the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten last September depicted him as a stereotype of a terrorist.

The images were reprinted in a Norwegian magazine earlier this month sparking uproar in the Muslim world.

Ambassadors from several Muslim countries complained to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who had earlier said he could not tell papers what to print, or not to.

Danish food producers Arla Foods said the anger sparked by the objectionable cartoons had prompted a boycott of its dairy products in Saudi Arabia.

Arla Foods is Europe's second-largest dairy company and the leading Danish exporter to Saudi Arabia, where it sells an estimated two billion kroner ($328 million) worth of products every year.

Arla director Finn Hansen said there had been calls for boycotting Danish products in Friday prayers and on Saudi television and in newspapers.

"More and more supermarkets are taking our products off their shelves and don't want fresh supplies because consumers no longer want to buy our brand," Arla Foods spokesman Louis Honore told AFP, "The situation is very serious."

Arla Foods sales staff had been summoned by major Saudi customers who were threatening to stop buying Arla butter and cheeses unless the Danish government officially apologized for the cartoons, he said.

There were street protests both in Denmark and in Muslim countries following the publication of the cartoons.