EU bans selling fruit that's too small.

Leonel

Leonel

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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.'
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http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/...ned-selling-kiwi-fruits-MILLIMETRE-small.html

Not even allowed to give them away.
 
Ridiculous.
 
I don't get it. Why does the EU have this power and would they ban it? Really why make it illegal to buy small kiwi???
 
This is dumber then the protectionist policies of only sparkling white wine from Champlain can be called champlain or the new ruling on Parmesan can only be called parmesano-regiano and has to come from a certain area of Italy.

If I was that guy I'd peel them, blend then and sell smoothies!
 
Had you ever tried what some would wrap in white, red and green and label "Parmesan", you'd know why it's not dumb at all - for those who value what they eat.
 
woody60707 said:
I don't get it. Why does the EU have this power and would they ban it? Really why make it illegal to buy small kiwi???
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Because come geniuses figured out that in order to have "free trade" winking efficiently within the single market all products must be strictly classified - in the case of agricultural products such as fruit, "graded" among several classes. So as not to trick consumers or traders, you see... as if consumers looked at the label instead of at the product when buying fruit, of all things... :rolleyes: As for large-scale traders who do no more than shuffle paper, they can go straight to hell for all I care.
Obviously this guy got tricked by the trader he bought from. It's a wasteful system... but it actually works, that much I have to admit.

The worst thing with these regulations is the way they get applied to everyone, regardless of scale. The end result is that small-scale business can sometimes become impossible because the minimum fixed costs of the bureaucratic work cannot be recovered: in this example perhaps the time to study all applicable regulations, the grading, paperwork, etc. The EU is designed to be hostile to small business.
 
innonimatu said:
Because come geniuses figured out that in order to have "free trade" winking efficiently within the single market all products must be classified - in the case of agricultural products such as fruit, "graded" among several classes. So as not to trick consumers or traders, you see... as if consumers looked at the label instead of at the product when buying... :rolleyes: As for large-scale traders who do no more than shuffle paper, they can go straight to heel for all I care.

Obviously this guy got tricked by the trader he bought from. It's a wasteful system... but it actually works, that much I have to admit.
The worst thing with these regulations is the way they get applied to everyone, regardless of scale. The end result is that small-scale business can sometimes become impossible because the minimum fixed costs of the bureaucratic work cannot be recovered: in this example perhaps the time to study all applicable regulations, the grading, paperwork, etc.
Click to expand...

On the other side of the coin several countries that entered the EU has so bad systems of regulation that EU eye has only bettered the quality of product a consumer can get.

Example , there was no rule of checking if there was a specific vacteria in Milk in Cyprus until the EU imposed that law to all members. As a result they did find and destroy quantities of that bad milk which was in favor of the interests of the consumer.

I have seen nothing but adopting a more efficient system in States due to EU regulations.

But i guess not everything can be positive .
 
scy12 said:
On the other side of the coin several countries that entered the EU has so bad systems of regulation that EU eye has only bettered the quality of product a consumer can get.

Example , there was no rule of checking if there was a specific vacteria in Milk in Cyprus until the EU imposed that law to all members. As a result they did find and destroy quantities of that bad milk which was in favor of the interests of the consumer.

I have seen nothing but adopting a more efficient system in States due to EU regulations.

But i guess not everything can be positive .
Click to expand...

There are many good regulations, I'm not questioning that. Only the need to make every new regulation an EU-wide one! There are some which simply do mot make sense everywhere. There are others which are simply insane, and yet others which get passed due to lobbying from industry groups before anyone catches wind of them and can move to block the idea. One recent case in my corned of the EU was a regulation demanding that olive oil be served in restaurants in sealed individual doses. It turned out that the regulations had essentially been written by a handful of large spanish packagers seeking to enlarge their market!
It then got "reinterpreted" (essentially we're ignoring it) so that restaurants reverted to the old system of serving it as they wished. The new one actually was more hygienic. But so would be a rule ordering an hospital-grade autoclave to clean dish ware in all restaurants... there's such a thing as reasonableness. And such a thing as cultural habits, which is NOT the role of the EU to interfere with. It's still only a bloody ECONOMIC union - yet.

And I don't even want to get into how the EU decision process is geared to favor larger business interests... large-scale trade == large-scale business, that should be a simple enough starting point for someone to think about the subject.
 
There was much ado about the EU rules about the bendiness(or was it just size?) of bananas, remember. What these newspapers failed to mention was that the british already had rules about the bendiness of bananas and they were identical to the EU rules. There are always to sides to something.
 
This is ridiculous, that guy should take this up to the EU's....... wait does the EU have anything like the Supreme Court?
He should still sell them nonetheless, what are they going to do? Throw him in jail for selling small fruits? That would be something to tell the other inmates.
 
skadistic said:
If I was that guy I'd peel them, blend then and sell smoothies!
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Now THAT is true market genius. Way to stick it to the man, skad.

Anyways, I think this proves that the Europeans can be just as silly with thier policy making as the rest of the world. What is Winner's feeling about this?
 
So many daft EU rules and such weak examples.

Lillefix said:
There was much ado about the EU rules about the bendiness(or was it just size?) of bananas, remember. What these newspapers failed to mention was that the british already had rules about the bendiness of bananas and they were identical to the EU rules. There are always to sides to something.
Click to expand...

The bannanna thing wasnt just british. The ex-colonial states had preferential trade deals with their former states about bannannas. Their economies of thase countries were dependant on those deals. The WTO said we had to let the multinationals sell us their bannannas - we redefined "bannanna" to be the kind of bannanna grown by the Islands we wanted to support rather than the multinationals. That's playing the political game, and standing by our responsibilities.

skadistic said:
This is dumber then the protectionist policies of only sparkling white wine from Champlain can be called champlain or the new ruling on Parmesan can only be called parmesano-regiano and has to come from a certain area of Italy.
Click to expand...

Scotch Whiskey has to be Scotch and Whiskey. Parma Ham is ham from Parma. Champaigne is from Champaigne. Thats what the names mean. Chedder cheese is cheese from... guess?

Why the hell should I be able to sell Albanian Whiskey as Scotch? It's not. It may be good or bad, but it wouldnt know a haggis if one cornered it in a dark alley. Prob wouldnt even become a bitter child every time england play football.

Should I be able to put "made in the USA" on anything I want wherever it is made?
 
GinandTonic<-

That's a different thing isn't it, the european banana war. I'm talking about the bendiness of bananas.
 
Lillefix said:
GinandTonic<-

That's a different thing isn't it, the european banana war. I'm talking about the bendiness of bananas.
Click to expand...

IIRC the bendiness thing was a way of sidestepping the WTO. No war, just completely acceptable quality control [sic]
 
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