Mooseman
Isengar Tussle
I know it sounds rique, but it's about the lifting of a ban in the EU on fruit and vegetable standards.... This is a good thing, but it's amazing that it was implemented at all.... I could see the need to rate or grade produce, but to ban it's sale outright....... wow......
An EU ban restricting the sale of imperfect-looking fruit and vegetables has been overturned, allowing the return of curvy cucumbers and knobbly carrots to shops.
The changes could bring down the cost of fruit and veg.
Marketing standards in force across the 27-nation bloc ensuring only the finest-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves have been in force for 20 years but are routinely ridiculed by anti-EU newspapers and commentators.
Now, in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy -- and the cost of fruit and vegetables -- European Union lawmakers have voted to ditch the restrictions.
The standards regulated the size and shape of 36 varieties of fruit and veg sold in Europe, from apricots to watermelons.
Following Wednesday's vote the rules will now be repealed for 26 of them, including artichokes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, onions, peas, carrots, plums, and ribbed celery.
But for the 10 products that account for 75 percent of EU fruit and veg trade -- apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches/nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes -- the rules will stay.
National governments could exempt even those 10 from the restrictions providing they are labeled as "product intended for processing" or something similar.
The changes will not take effect until next July for practical reasons, but could cut the prices of "ugly vegetables" by up to 40 percent compared to the current "class one" goods.
"This marks the new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the nobbly carrot," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told The Associated Press.
"We simply don't need to regulate this. In these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible."
A European Commission spokesman said: "These rules were originally asked for by the fruit and veg industry, because when a wholesaler orders crates of cucumbers, he needs to have some idea of the quality of the produce. We then based our rules on international standards applied by a committee of the United Nations.
"However, times have changed, and we agreed during negotiations last year that we could get rid of red tape in this area.
"Now household budgets are tighter and there is the problem of wasting food too, so it makes more sense than ever to allow people to buy misshapen fruit and veg if they wish."
An EU ban restricting the sale of imperfect-looking fruit and vegetables has been overturned, allowing the return of curvy cucumbers and knobbly carrots to shops.
The changes could bring down the cost of fruit and veg.
Marketing standards in force across the 27-nation bloc ensuring only the finest-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves have been in force for 20 years but are routinely ridiculed by anti-EU newspapers and commentators.
Now, in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy -- and the cost of fruit and vegetables -- European Union lawmakers have voted to ditch the restrictions.
The standards regulated the size and shape of 36 varieties of fruit and veg sold in Europe, from apricots to watermelons.
Following Wednesday's vote the rules will now be repealed for 26 of them, including artichokes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, onions, peas, carrots, plums, and ribbed celery.
But for the 10 products that account for 75 percent of EU fruit and veg trade -- apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches/nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes -- the rules will stay.
National governments could exempt even those 10 from the restrictions providing they are labeled as "product intended for processing" or something similar.
The changes will not take effect until next July for practical reasons, but could cut the prices of "ugly vegetables" by up to 40 percent compared to the current "class one" goods.
"This marks the new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the nobbly carrot," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told The Associated Press.
"We simply don't need to regulate this. In these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible."
A European Commission spokesman said: "These rules were originally asked for by the fruit and veg industry, because when a wholesaler orders crates of cucumbers, he needs to have some idea of the quality of the produce. We then based our rules on international standards applied by a committee of the United Nations.
"However, times have changed, and we agreed during negotiations last year that we could get rid of red tape in this area.
"Now household budgets are tighter and there is the problem of wasting food too, so it makes more sense than ever to allow people to buy misshapen fruit and veg if they wish."
