From the 1st July, the European Commission has removed specific marketing standards governing the size and shapes of 26 types of fruit and vegetables. This is part of an initiative to reduce red tape and has been welcomed by many groups, including farmers and consumers. In particular, organic farmers, who believe that it will reduce waste and boost sales of organic produce.

Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development explained, “It’s a concrete example of our drive to cut unnecessary red tape. We simply don’t need to regulate this sort of thing at EU level. It is far better to leave it to market operators. And in these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible. It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the ‘wrong’ shape.”

However, the weight of regulations is still complicating the issue. Being true to form, ten types of fruit and vegetables will still be subject to the standards, but may be sold as long as it is clearly labelled that they are not meeting these standards, but it will be up to member states to exempt them from standards, the troublesome ten, which account for 75 percent of the value of EU trade: apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes.

The sanctified sixteen are; apricots, artichokes, asparagus, aubergines, avocados, beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots cauliflowers, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers, mushrooms, garlic, hazelnuts, cabbage, leeks, melon, onions, peas, plums, celery, spinach, walnuts, watermelons, chicory. However the banana will still have its curvature regulated.

Another beneficiary of the relaxation in the rules are the makers of low comedy TV programmes, who will be able to continue to show rude vegetables to raise chuckles from the viewer and one journalist has reported seeing on sale, a turnip that looks likeBarroso.