Tesco brand manager Breige Donaghy has already embraced the new ruling with the retailer's Monster Veg range

Tesco brand manager Breige Donaghy has already embraced the new ruling with the retailer's Monster Veg range

The new EU Marketing Standards allowing the sale of misshapen fruit and vegetables comes into force today.

Some 26 types of produce of all shapes and sizes will be allowed to be sold as the European Commission looks to streamline and simplify EU rules and cut red tape.

The 26 types are: 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 and chicory.

But the rules will remain unchanged for 10 types of produce - apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes, which collectively account for 75 per cent fruit and vegetable trade in the EU.

But an apple which does not meet the standard could still be sold, as long as it were labelled "product intended for processing" or equivalent wording, the commission says.

At the moment, 20 per cent of produce is rejected by shops across the EU because it fails to meet the current requirements.

The EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "July 1 marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot.

"We don't need to regulate this sort of thing at EU level. It is far better to leave it to market operators.”

There has been some opposition in the trade to the new marketing standards. Philippe Binard, general delegate of Freshfel Europe, told FPJ: “The commission has used populist arguments to justify using the misshapen angle in its new marketing standards, but it could create a number of problems with financial burdens, labelling and risk analysis. Submitting samples to the new marketing standards when they have passed existing health and safety testing makes no sense.

“It could seriously interfere with a system which is working fine and there could be different ways of dealing with them in different countries.”

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