Bringing Back Ugly Fruit and Veg

new potatoes, christmas potatoes, container grown potatoes

On the 1st July the EU will lift its ban on misshapen fruit and veg – as a result supermarkets are vowing to reduce costs and we’ll see more ‘less than perfect’ shaped fruit and veg on the shelves … With the promise of prices being reduced by up to 40% I think we’ll all be keen to fill our carrier bags with curly carrots and cucumbers!

EU Bonkers About Barmy Rules On Regulation Veg …

Cucumbers were the first vegetable to be targeted by the EU in 1988 when they ordered all member states to ensure every single piece on sale met a raft of conditions … including:

i) Class I
Cucumbers in this class must be of good quality. They must:
- be reasonably developed
- be reasonably well shaped and practically straight (maximum height of the arc: 10 mm per 10 cm of the length of cucumber).
... man in white overalls with ruler starts to check the straightness of thousands of cucumbers … blah blah blah

Quickly followed by rules regulating dozens of vegetables … which has resulted in farmers binning up to a fifth of their produce which breached the rules.

Don’t Tell Them Your Name Pike …

Sainsbury’s is hailing Wednesday as the day the ‘wonky veg war’ was won and says “It’ll reduce waste” – a war I’m sure Captain Mainwaring’s home guard troops would have happily fought…

Legislation will be lifted on 26 foods including apricots, aubergines, beans, cauliflowers, cherries, courgettes, melons, onions, peas, plums, sprouts etc.

However the EU is not removing all of its counter-productive regulations as rules controlling the appearance of apples, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce, will all remain. As will the famous “bendy banana regulation”, (EC No. 2257/94) which insists that bananas remain “free from abnormal curvature of the fingers”….

Tesco added “We look forward to selling curvy cucumbers and knobbly carrots.”

Whilst Asda says it will be selling wonky fruit and veg for customers to turn into jams, juices, soups and casseroles.

Richard Hirst, horticulture board chairman at the NFU said “Farmers and growers work extremely hard to produce quality food, but nature does not always comply with a perfectly rounded apple and poker-straight carrot. People should be given the chance to buy odd-shaped fruit and veg as they taste just as good.”