EU Sees Sense!

Good news for a change. From today, potatoes resembling naughty bits, cucumbers shaped like horseshoes and other misshapen vegetables and fruit will be freely available from a purveyor of greengrocery somewhere near you, after an absence of twenty years.

The European Commission (EC) has abolished its rules that discriminated against imperfect fresh produce.

From today, thirty six types of fruit and vegetables can now be sold whatever their shape, size, lack of sheen or gnarled skin.

The EC’s intention is to lower the price of fresh food and to cut red tape for growers and importers. Retailers estimate that prices for misshapen and blemished produce will be about 40 per cent lower.

The National Farmers Union said in a statement: “Farmers and growers work extremely hard to produce quality food but nature does not always comply with a perfectly rounded sprout and poker-straight carrot.
It is good to hear that people will be given the chance to buy odd-shaped fruit and veg and see they taste just as good. It will help eliminate waste, which has to be good news for consumers and British growers.”

This will certainly be good news to my neighbouring farmer, who has to ’plough in’ 50 per cent of his crops for the sole reason that they don’t meet with EC criteria!

Isn’t it funny how this depression has suddenly made people see sense!