Post by Madhatter on Jul 24, 2008 0:44:22 GMT
What sort of girl goes into a grocers and asks for a bent cucumber
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Twisted carrots, warped leeks and bent cucumbers may soon appear -- officially -- on EU shop shelves as Europe's farm chief overrides opposition from leading producer countries to her marketing simplification plan.
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One of the most popular jibes about EU over-regulation, where zealous Brussels bureaucrats are portrayed as wanting to set permitted sizes, lengths -- and "bendiness" -- for household fruit and vegetables, has come back to haunt the European Union.
But this time, Brussels wants to cut the red tape and get rid of what it calls "unnecessary marketing standards" -- in part because of the rising price of food.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel wants to scrap 26 of 36 marketing standards that apply to a wide range of products such as artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, plums, spinach and watermelon. The 10 remaining items account for 75 percent of the EU's cross-border trade in this area.
"The proposal would ... allow member states to exempt fruit and vegetables from specific marketing standards if they are sold with a label 'products intended for processing' or equivalent wording," the Commission said in a statement.
"Such products could be either misshapen or under-sized and could for example be used by consumers for cooking or salads. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw these products away or destroy them," it said.
uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080723/tod-uk-eu-fruit-size-063ac92.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Twisted carrots, warped leeks and bent cucumbers may soon appear -- officially -- on EU shop shelves as Europe's farm chief overrides opposition from leading producer countries to her marketing simplification plan.
(Advertisement)
One of the most popular jibes about EU over-regulation, where zealous Brussels bureaucrats are portrayed as wanting to set permitted sizes, lengths -- and "bendiness" -- for household fruit and vegetables, has come back to haunt the European Union.
But this time, Brussels wants to cut the red tape and get rid of what it calls "unnecessary marketing standards" -- in part because of the rising price of food.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel wants to scrap 26 of 36 marketing standards that apply to a wide range of products such as artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, plums, spinach and watermelon. The 10 remaining items account for 75 percent of the EU's cross-border trade in this area.
"The proposal would ... allow member states to exempt fruit and vegetables from specific marketing standards if they are sold with a label 'products intended for processing' or equivalent wording," the Commission said in a statement.
"Such products could be either misshapen or under-sized and could for example be used by consumers for cooking or salads. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw these products away or destroy them," it said.
uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080723/tod-uk-eu-fruit-size-063ac92.html