Sainsbury's has written to the European agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel and British environment secretary Hilary Benn in a bid to pressurise bureaucrats to relax strict rules on the size, shape and appearance of fresh produce.
Laws currently forbid stores to sell produce that does not meet strict European Commission guidelines, but Sainsbury’s has put its opinions into the pot before a vote on whether to soften the EC stance on November 12.
Sainsbury’s says that a change in the rules would encourage shops to stock imperfect-looking produce and reduce the amount of food going to waste. 20-year old rules categorise 36 fruit and vegetables into class I or class II grades, but according to yesterday’s Daily Mail, retailers estimate imperfect produce would be around 40 per cent cheaper than perfect-looking fruit and vegetables.
Sue Henderson of Sainsbury's said: 'We have been struggling to fit a square peg in a round hole for too long now when it comes to conforming to the more controversial elements of the EU regulations. We are not allowed to use up to 20 per cent of what is produced in this country and in the current credit crunch climate, we cannot continue to waste this much food before it even leaves the farms.”
Michael Mann, agriculture spokesman in the European Commission, admitted that Brussels has no place regulating the size of fruit and vegetables, branding the laws “just unnecessary red tape”.
