EU rules ban sale of 'too small' kiwis

EU rules ban sale of 'too small' kiwis

www.telegraph.co.uk

A wholesaler has been banned from selling a consignment of kiwi fruits because EU laws deemed them too small.
Tim Down, a market trader for 25 years, said he was not permitted even to give away the 5,000 Chilean fruits, each of which is about the size of a small hen's egg and weighs about 60g.

Mr Down said his family run firm would lose several hundred pounds in sales because of the ban.

"It is bureaucratic nonsense, they are perfectly fit to eat," Mr Down said at his stall at the Wholesale Fruit Centre in Bristol.

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Yes isn't the EU just fab , when they wont even let people give away the food they grew... and one wonders why Ireland said no to the Lisbon treaty...


www.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Absolutely pathetic!

They go on and on about global warming, saving the planet, cutting waste...then they do something stupid like this!!!

Bloody idiots!

[edit on 26-6-2008 by mirageofdeceit]

Each time stories like this surface, I think we have hit rock bottom in the stupidity stakes but I'm always proven wrong by an even more ridiculous story sometime later.

I can provide the market stall trader with a few ideas of where he can insert a few of those Kiwi fruits. They may be small but they'll sure make the eyes of a few Eurocratic enforcement officers water.

Seriously, this is just so idiotic it beggars belief.

This is... rather daft. If it's true.

Last July I was in Spain, and round the corner from where I was there was a big open-air food market every Wednesday. It was amazing to walk around; fresh produce of all different shapes and sizes being bought and sold. I bought some fruit, a roast chicken and vegetables for a salad and it was delicious... and there wasn't one EU official to measure the Kiwi fruits or anything! How do the Spanish cope!?

Some of these EU stories are made up, or at the very least the truth is stretched so it's important not to take them at face value (like anything you read in the newspapers)... but if it's true then clearly we've found a place to start when we set about cutting the EU bureaucracy. The Kiwi Measurement Department can be the first to be axed!

[edit on 26/6/08 by Ste2652]

I wonder what the size spec is and whether it takes a little monsanto magic to meet the quota everytime. In my experience the smaller the fruit, the better it tastes.

that is at least stupid, while everyone is concerned on global food crisis , some people are trowing away food on cosmetic reasons..this is a disgrace an an insult to a billion of hungry citizens of the Earth! In my country there are people that did not see a Kiwi fruit on years! NOT FAIR!



[edit on 26-6-2008 by sty]

reply to post by Ste2652

This is... rather daft. If it's true.

Oh, it's true alright!

Not a one-liner.

[edit on 26-6-2008 by mirageofdeceit]

Here is your answer - DONT BELIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!

reply to post by Thirst


...yes, but this is likely true.

There was the infamous EU banana wars in the 90s, caused by a rule which stated that smaller bananas with too much curvature were forbidden for sale/import to EU countries. It was later overturned, but the idea behind the madness was to regulate off the market bananas coming from a certain area (I forget where now) and to favor imports linked to close trading partners and former colonies of certain EU member states.

Doubtless the same thing happening here with kiwis.

Originally posted by Thirst
Here is your answer - DONT BELIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!

Actually, there are EU Directives on just this kind of thing. I can't find the article now but the BBC reported on Europe over-turning these laws just last week.

reply to post by ladysharrowandherbarrow


i do find it funny there are actuily regulations that deem fruits that dont look good to be un sellible to stores or to the public.

the idiots incharge complain that people waste food in the tonnes yet they cause farmers to throw away perfectly good produce because it doesnt look pretty or a certain size.

I came into this thread prepared to rant about how terrible is the slave trade of short New Zealanders. I guess I must have mis understood the title

Originally posted by bodrul
reply to post by ladysharrowandherbarrow

 

i do find it funny there are actuily regulations that deem fruits that dont look good to be un sellible to stores or to the public.

the idiots incharge complain that people waste food in the tonnes yet they cause farmers to throw away perfectly good produce because it doesnt look pretty or a certain size.

Ok, does anyone else see the Irony in the fact that bodrul goes on about the idiocy of banning these fruits, but yet his/her signature block proclaims "BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS"?

Originally posted by Shere Khaan
I came into this thread prepared to rant about how terrible is the slave trade of short New Zealanders. I guess I must have mis understood the title

Your post made me laugh hard!


Thanks!

Are you folks sure Monty Python isn't behind this???? Maybe they bought a few newsies to play with???? Naw, they wouldn't waste they're time!

Zindo

Tomatoes for example, are also divided in categories & classes (based on weight/ roundness/colour/variety/purpose). You simply cannot sell two mixed classes in your stall. That's called fraud.

Ok, officially, he can't give away the fruit, and that sounds ridiculous, but he can 'loose' the kiwis in many ways. A little more creativity and the case is solved. And after all, it's not 5 tonnes of kiwis wasted, it's hardly 300kg. Get real. And for the wholesaler, don't buy (cheap) kiwis in Chile in the future if they can't calibrate them properly before shipping.

reply to post by Quazga


and im suppose to care?
even so i dont see what my dislike for Israel has to do with the regulations that effect the UK and EU

also

if your going to nit pick other members atleast post something constructive to go along with the criticism



[edit on 27-6-2008 by bodrul]

Kiwis are one of the best natural sources for Vit. C and antioxidants, not to mention so very tasty, he can send every one of them my way, I won't tell the EU...

Originally posted by gottago
There was the infamous EU banana wars in the 90s, caused by a rule which stated that smaller bananas with too much curvature were forbidden for sale/import to EU countries.

Actually, that whole story was concoted by a group of journalists who reported on the EU to see what kinds of wacky ideas people would believe about the organisation. It's fabricated, but widely used by many (especially the British tabloid press) as an example of EU madness. Hence my scepticism. That's not to say there aren't stupid rules that the EU puts out, however; clearly there are.