Wonky fruit and vegetables can be sold again after the European Union (EU) voted to overturn current marketing standards on 26 trpes of vegetable, such as cucumbers, carrots, garlic and apricots.
New marketing rules cover 26 types of fruit and vegetable: apricots, artichokes, asparagus, aubergines, avocadoes, beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflowers, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers, cultivated mushrooms, garlic, hazelnuts in shell, headed cabbage, leeks, melons, onions, peas, plums, ribbed celery, spinach, walnuts in shell, water melons, witloof/chicory.
EU ruling remains in place for 10 types of fruit and vegetable, such as apples, strawberries and tomatoes – although EU member states can sell misshapen products ‘as long as they are labelled to distinguish them from “extra”, “class I” and “class II” fruit’.
‘This marks a new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the nobbly carrot,’ said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
NFU members have welcomed the development, saying: ‘Farmers and growers work extremely hard to produce quality food but nature does not always comply with a perfectly rounded spouts and poker straight carrot.’
Wonky fruit and vegetables such as carrots and apricots can be sold again in the UK from July 1 2009 after the EU voted to overturn current marketing standards on 26 types of fruit and vegetable.
Give the very best of British life this Christmas – a subscription to Country Life
