Oddly shaped and imperfect fruit and vegetables will be shunned no more, as the EU reverses their decision to ban them from our shelves.
EU agricultural officers have made the decision to abort the regulations on size and shape for 26 types of fruit and vegetable, which should make for funner and ultimately cheaper mealtimes. An estimated 20 per cent of farm produce was being wasted for not reaching the EU standards, as bendy cucumbers and crooked carrots were forbidden from sale.
Not all fruit and veg escape though - up to three quarters sold in the EU including pears, apples, citrus fruits, strawberries and tomatoes will still have to meet specified criteria.
For example, if pears have a skin defect on over 1cm2 of their surface, they will not be qualified as Class 1.
However, if these fruits and vegetables do not meet these high standards, they can still be sold, as long as they are labelled as being “imperfect” and sold separately from the good batch.
The EU Agricultural Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, as a farmer proposed the deregulation. It was not an easy task though, as some countries, including foodie mad France and Italy were unhappy about the change.
Hilary Benn, the rural affairs secretary said, “I think a large dose of common sense is required here. Frankly, if shops want to sell, and consumers want to buy, funny-shaped carrots and turnips then I do not really see what the problem is.”
The EU’s criteria was incredibly vast and included irrational rules such as the colour of asparagus and the degree of a cucumber’s bend!
Happy about the decision are supermarkets, farmers and growers - not to mention consumers! Those loveable and strange looking foods will not appear back in the shops until July though.
Lucy Maclennan, category product manager for vegetables at Sainsbury’s, said, “Ideally, we would like to see all 36 rules removed and for them to be removed now rather than next summer.” The rules were so strict that a manager at one branch could have faced prosecution for selling Halloween esque “zombie brain” cauliflowers and carrot “witches’ fingers “.
One organic grower - Patrick Holden, who is also director of the Soil Association - said that his own wonky carrots were rejected by Sainsburys two years ago.
He said, “This will be a fantastic step, especially for organic growers. We are about inner quality, not outer appearance.”
Imperfect fruit and vegetables will be sold for less than their perfect counterparts as part of a campaign to tackle obesity and help families to cook healthy but economic meals.
One modest but popular fruit will not escape the strict EU rules though - bananas must be at least 14cm long and 27mm thick in the middle!
