Going round the bend
BENDY bananas and knobbly fruit and vegetables could be for the chop again after Spanish MEPs began moves to get the EU to re-impose its ban on wonky fruit and veg.
The Spanish amendments, if passed, could spell misery for local farmers whose fruit and veg might not necessarily pass a beauty contest but whose flavour and quality is second to none. Last July the rules were relaxed but now Spanish MEPs are demanding that the ludicrous rules are reintroduced.
Food is food, no matter what it looks like. To try to stop stores selling perfectly decent food simply because of its shape or size is morally unjustifiable, especially when we are worried about global food supplies and still in the mouth of an economic downturn.
These rules were the butt of jokes for the European Commission and I thought common sense had finally prevailed when they relaxed the rules last July. If the Spanish MEPs get their way, we could see the re-introduction of the ludicrous bendy banana rules. Conservatives will be bitterly opposing the move and I will be campaigning on behalf of our local farmers. At the end of the day it's consumers who will decide what they want. Let the market decide, not the European Parliament.
TIMOTHY KIRKHOPE
MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber
Main Street,
SCOTTON
North Yorkshire
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Batley
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -4 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
