Bent banana and curved cucumber rules dropped

by liamssoft | July 24, 2008 at 04:54 am

2259 views | 10 Recommendations | 41 comments

Just how many man hours are spent on ridiculous EU rules is anyone's guess, but now a ray of common sense is fermenting in the Euro countries....

A majority of EU member states, including Britain and Ireland, have voted to reform rules like EC Commission Regulation No 2257/94, which caused international ridicule by stating that all bananas must be "free of abnormal curvature" and at least 14 cm in length.

Imperfectly-shaped fruit and vegetables may now be back on supermarket shelves by 2009.

France, Italy, Spain and Greece opposed the reforms and were accused by officials of unfairly seeking to protect the interests of their farmers.

Mariann Fischer Boel, the European agriculture commissioner, has said that she also wants to scrap a swathe of regulations on produce such as onions, garlic, caulifower and spinach.

Reviewing the rules will give the bureaucrats an even larger workload and no doubt even more rules will come out of this. Isn't it time the EU looked at making redundancies?

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Caoimhin1

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:28 on July 24th, 2008

liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.

liamssoft

at 10:21 on July 24th, 2008

Many thanks Caoimhin1, what we really want the EU to do is look at the safety of using weedkiller and insecticide on our food, we are not concerned with the size or shape.

Bob Macdonald (not verified)

at 06:06 on July 24th, 2008

The cheeky BBC radio host today told the female reporter announcing this story that she can now enjoy her curved cucumbers. In Eastern Europe, market stall sellers always have a cheeky grin on their faces when a woman buys a cucumber. Do they know something?

Vinny

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:56 on July 24th, 2008

liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.

liamssoft

at 12:55 on July 24th, 2008

Many thanks Vinny for GS and great picture.

rr_graphic_design

at 11:16 on July 24th, 2008

standardize fruit and produce is a tactic of agri-business to control and regulate the population. think crooked, eat local.

rr_graphic_design has contributed a photo to this story.

AmethystD

at 11:31 on July 24th, 2008

(Of my photo: Carrots at a farmers' market.) Many veggies aren't stereotypical, store photo-perfect. The beauty of these fruits and veggies are the way they're grown and handled (often free of herbicides and pesticides, picked fresh and delivered to local markets) and how they taste. Like Mr. Rogers said, "What's on the inside that counts. Not the outside."

AmethystD has contributed a photo to this story.

Jane Dallaway

at 11:39 on July 24th, 2008

My photo is of "Paris Market" carrots, grown in my garden from seed. Really small, but tasty carrots that can be grown in containers.

Jane Dallaway has contributed a photo to this story.

iTroyboy

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:10 on July 24th, 2008

liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.

liamssoft

at 13:06 on July 24th, 2008

Many thanks for the GS iTroyboy - I'm fed up with factory produced vegetables, all one size and straight as in the supermarket. There all a little unnatural and makes me wonder what do they do to them to make them grow straight.

YakimaFruitBlogger

at 12:54 on July 24th, 2008

Organic local carrots (my photo)

freshpickednews.com

Shubka

at 15:33 on July 24th, 2008

These vegtables were raised at Fairstream Farms Organics in Indiana and sold at the farmer's market at the School House in Beverly Shores, Indiana.

Shubka has contributed a photo to this story.

retrosounds

at 17:27 on July 24th, 2008

This crazy carrot was grown in our organic garden. Real and it tasted great.

retrosounds has contributed a photo to this story.

Zan

at 17:47 on July 24th, 2008

This is the biggest banana i've ever seen! It was in the normal shopping-basket, imagine its size.

Zan has contributed a photo to this story.

Trichellee

at 18:17 on July 24th, 2008

My friends and I went to Key West for Fourth of July vacation. In the Grand Vine (wine bar), we befriended "Clyde the duck" who we took with us every where. These bananas were outside of one of the homes and we thought Clyde would look good in them.

Trichellee has contributed a photo to this story.

SantaRosa OLD SKOOL

at 18:49 on July 24th, 2008

SantaRosa OLD SKOOL has contributed a photo to this story.

DebbieAnnG

at 19:22 on July 24th, 2008

I didn't realize that there were such stringent regulations about produce shape...I guess I shouldn't be surprised. My little round carrots are very tasty although a little tricky to peel.

DebbieAnnG has contributed a photo to this story.

Liene

at 19:48 on July 24th, 2008

My wacky little potato which came under my knife when I was living in France!

Liene has contributed a photo to this story.

bravo les filles

at 23:04 on July 24th, 2008

Nice market in the center of Paris. One of many others which makes your staying in this city so nice in hot summer day.

bravo les filles has contributed a photo to this story.

viktorlantos

at 02:56 on July 25th, 2008

I grew these bananas at home. Usually to have a fruit on these takes 3-4 years. But the taste of these beauties is far above any expectations. Imagine when a fruit is fresh and ready to eat.

viktorlantos has contributed a photo to this story.

daniela smara

at 03:55 on July 25th, 2008

this is my genuine cucumber:)...green, fresh, all natural straight from the backyard. love his curving tendency and the little black "thorns"

daniela smara has contributed a photo to this story.

daniela smara

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 04:11 on July 25th, 2008

liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.

liamssoft

at 04:18 on July 25th, 2008

Many thanks daniela for the GS and great pic.

ericamonge

at 06:21 on July 25th, 2008

These bananas are picked from a tree in Costa Rica.

ericamonge has contributed a photo to this story.

fiberartchic

at 06:24 on July 25th, 2008

Strange; Two "pair of pants" carrots found in the same bag. The carrots were most likely Dutch grown. We get produce from abroad during the Sabbatical year for farming in Israel. For some reason these were mildly unappatizing.

fiberartchic has contributed a photo to this story.

Eddy1983

at 09:20 on July 25th, 2008

big banana that bought from market...

Eddy1983 has contributed a photo to this story.

Nikkka

at 13:50 on July 25th, 2008

Nikkka has contributed a photo to this story.

luvmy.garden

at 05:47 on July 26th, 2008

Suyo Long Cucumber is long, ridged and often curled, even more than this one. The other two are Snow's fancy pickling cukes. Fresh from my kitchen garden, July, 2008.

luvmy.garden has contributed a photo to this story.

Villoe

at 14:35 on July 26th, 2008

Carrots on the market. Miskolc /Hungary

Villoe has contributed a photo to this story.

James and Tizzy

at 03:51 on July 27th, 2008

Tasty carrots grown first on a tiny balcony then transplanted to a garden. We don't have much vegetable garden know-how but these prove that anyone can raise from seed good quality organic veg which regardless of their curved nature are delicious.

James and Tizzy has contributed a photo to this story.