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EU forces market trader to pulp thousands of kiwi fruit because they're ONE MILLIMETRE too small
Last updated at 01:10am on 27.06.08
Greengrocer Tim Down holds a legal kiwi fruit in his right hand along with an illegal kiwi fruit in his left hand
A market trader has been banned from selling a batch of kiwi fruits because they are 1mm smaller than EU rules allow.
Inspectors told 53-year- old Tim Down he is forbidden even to give away the fruits, which are perfectly healthy.
The father of three will now have to bin the 5,000 kiwis, costing him £1,000 in lost sales.
Speaking yesterday from the stall in Bristol he has owned for 20 years, Mr Down said: 'It's total nonsense. I work hard enough to make a living without all these bureaucrats telling us what we can and can't sell.
'They're saying I'm a criminal for selling this fruit, but the real crime is that all this fruit will go to waste - all because it's 1mm too small.
'It's a terrible waste, particularly when we're all feeling the pinch from rising food prices and I've got to throw away this perfectly good fruit.'
The case comes only two weeks after the European Commission said it wants to relax rules on misshapen fruit and vegetables.
It could eventually mean an end to notorious bans on straight bananas, curved cucumbers and skinny carrots.
But that will bring little comfort to Mr Down in the meantime.
He took over Percy J Down wholesalers in 1988, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
Tim Down with his illegal consignment of Kiwi fruits. The greengrocer will lose £1,000 because EU regulators say the fruits are one millimetre too small
Last week, he ordered 75 boxes of Chilean kiwis from an importer in Kent, paying £525 for the batch of 12,000 fruits.
The kiwis were on sale for 20p each from his 15,000sq ft stall at the Wholesale Fruit Centre in Bristol. Mr Down sold 44 of the boxes and was expecting to make a profit from the remaining 5,000 fruits.
But that was before he received a visit by inspectors from the Rural Payments Agency - part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The inspectors conducted a random check to see if Mr Down's produce met strict European laws.
The regulations state that Class II kiwis must weigh a minimum of 62g - around 21/4oz.
But the two-hour inspection revealed that a number of the batch weighed 58g, or about 2oz.
Close inspection: The legal Kiwi fruit is on the left, while the 'too small' illegal Kiwi fruit is on the right
Mr Down said that, in effect, this meant there were a mere 1mm, or 1/25 of an inch, too small in diameter.
Selling them - or giving them away - carries a fine of up to £5,000.
The Rural Payments Agency insists the rules are in place to ensure quality and uniformity.
Barrie Stedman, head of the agency's inspectorate, said: ' Unfortunately the kiwi consignment in question failed to meet the minimum standards for saleable produce, in contravention of EU grading rules.'
He added: 'The trader was offered a number of options, including returning the fruit to the importer.'
Reader views (16)
as a kiwi farmer i would say this is nonsense.But i have to say that here exporters dont buy kiwi unless they r over 70gr.so why bother buying from Chile and not from Greece?
- Thomy, katerini greece
From what I know, the idea of standartising vegetables came from the food industry.
The food industry is using machines to process food, and before the EU rules, there were about 18 different standards in place in Europe.
A machine would be e.g. adjusted to work with fruit from one country, but would clog up if fruits from another country, with slightly different sizes, were used.
I assume that, once the new standards were put into EU rules, the whole thing took on a life of it's own.
Civil servants, no matter from which country they come, tend to be overtly cautious and to interprete rules in the strictest possible manner, so that their backs will always be covered.
Joe and Jill Sixpack don't care if the fruits they bought in the supermarket are a few millimeters bigger or smaller than the standards, as long as they are tasty.
But the farmers and fruit dealers, who use machines for harvesting, cleaning and sorting the fruit or commercial operators, like those making pickles in jars, will insist on fruit having all the same size within close tolerances. This also applies to cucumbers. If one is cooking at home with hand tools (knives etc.), a bent cucumber doesn't matter. But it would jam in the industrial cutting machine in the pickles factory.
- Krusat, Germany, Moersdorf, Germany
This, in a world where people are starving.
If they must enforce insanely petty regulations, this is the wrong way. The right way is to ask politely where the trader got them, maybe insist that he sells them by weight rather than each so as not to mislead, then go visit the importer and talk to him. Probably, he's equally innocent, and it's an overseas supplier at fault.
- Nigel, London
Why not sell them as mini-kiwi fruit? There is no legislation on mini-kiwi fruit.
- The Thinker, Cossall, Notts
Well God forbid if the fruit or vegetables I buy are not to the strict "guide" lines set by the morons at the EU.
This case further strengthens my disgust for the EU. We don't need them and should tell them in Brussels that they can stick their law(s) coped well without them for thousands of years before them and will cope for thousands of years after they're gone.
Fight unjust and idiotic laws that make the everyday person question the point of this nasty organisation!
- Ilkin, Norway
This is totally pathetic. Kiwi fruit is known for being nutritious so why doesn't the Rural Payments Agency give them to old peoples' homes. Amazing how obeying stupid rules is more important then health.
- Robin, Brentford, UK
Interesting this, because it links to the issues often described as 'Euromyths' by the apologists for the EU and its control over every aspect our lives and laws. Several commentators have said "if even the EU thinks the rules are daft then why enforce them?" But this misunderstands the nature of the way in which our laws operate and are enforced. The EU has demanded these laws and it is our lawmaker, not Westminster. Westminster simply rubberstamps these laws and is forbidden by directive from changing them. The desire to end them is only present in some officials, not in an EU agreement, which is the only way they can be scrapped. There is no way that these laws can be changed at present or in the foreseeable future because several countries have said no, as their producers benefit from them. Those laws are enforced by UK officials, however stupid and daft and wasteful, and there is nothing we can do to simply not enforce laws we don't like. The EU has not given us permission NOT to enforce them so we cannot say the EU thinks they are daft. Anyone disadvantaged by these laws not being enforced can sue. Traders who have spent money to comply in the recent past, a member of the public who says they got less kiwi fruit flesh per kilo...the possibilities are endless. And the court cases would be inspired by the interests that support these wasteful measures. When will we begin to understand how we are now governed?!
- Damian Hockney, London, UK
There's a good reason why Norway's not in the EU...
- Siri, Norway
"Can we lay-off the European Union' regulations on "Kiwi, one millimetre too small" business.
Most EU countries would simply ignore the regulations... do you think the local authorities in Southern Spain, or Sicily or on some islands in Greece, would go out to hurt a local greengrocer for the sake of 1 m/m ?
The answer is NO they would not bother... BUT HERE... we Gold Plate anything that comes from Brussels so don't blame these insane edicts but blame our local (British) bodies."
But that was before he received a visit by inspectors from the Rural Payments Agency - part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
- Paul Epps, Twickenham Middlesex
And people want the UK to be part of the EU because...
- Trixy, London
This is a wicked waste, in a world where so many starve, including this country. And it is absolutely offensive to any one with any moral values or a gram of sense. When will these ridiculous, even evil, rules apply to people, pulp 'em if they don't conform to what someone high up says they should be?
- Helen, Norwich
He should do what the supermarkets do with meat and inject them with water to make them larger and heavier.
- Itza Fiddle, London
The trouble is we get all these rules and regulations from Europe and because of our sense of fair play, we implement them to the letter. The other Europeans most certainly don't. They pick and choose which rules they want to apply.
We need an exit plan from Europe. We give them £12 billion approx. a year, for what? Where is my vote on the Constitution Brezhnev Brown?
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
In a time of rising food prices this is bureaucracy at it worst. Can't even give the food away without a fine? I'm sure some third world countries would find that ruling appalling and arrogant.
- Pete, Leigh On Sea
World food prices are soaring and some people in developing countries are beginning to suffer as a result of lack of adequate supplies, so I'm glad to see that the EU has got it's common sense hat on! Sell them and be damned, I say!
- Andy, London
Who says that consumers expect uniformity? Nature doesn't produce anything completely uniform. And since when did marginally smaller mean of lesser quality? In these days of soaring food prices it's very upsetting to see perfectly decent food being disposed of in this way. Someone should have a word with these pen pushers and give them something worthwhile do do rather than let them harass ordinary business people trying to make a living.
- Lmd, London
