Bendy cucumbers, knobbly carrots return to EU shelves

Bendy cucumbers, knobbly carrots and other strangely shaped fruit and vegetables, long the source of jibes over EU micro-regulation, will be allowed back onto European supermarket shelves from Wednesday.

Bendy cucumbers, knobbly carrots and other strangely shaped fruit and vegetables, long the source of jibes over EU micro-regulation, will be allowed back onto European supermarket shelves from Wednesday.

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EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel admitted on Tuesday that the rules on the curvature and shape of produce were long-standing examples of “unnecessary red tape” emanating from Brussels.

“July 1 marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot,” she said. “We don’t need to regulate this sort of thing at EU level. It is far better to leave it to market operators,” the commissioner added.

The changes also mean that consumers will 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´ size and shape,” she said.

The 27 EU nations gave the green light for the move last November, amid increasingly difficult economic times, though not unanimously.

Up to now, European marketing standards have ensured for 20 years that only the most standard-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves.