The European Union (EU) is welcoming unsightly produce for first time in 20 years. The EU rescinded a regulation that deemed ugly produce is unworthy of sales at grocery stores and farmers markets.
Regulations on 36 types of fruits and vegetables can now be sold whatever their shape, size, lack of sheen or gnarled skin. Cauliflower less than 11 cm in diameter, cucumbers that aren’t perfectly straight, forked carrots and onions with less than two-thirds covered with skin will now be available to consumers.
According to a Times Online article, retailers estimate the prices for these unattractive produces will be 40 percent lower than their more appealing counterparts.
Ten products, including apples, tomatoes, strawberries, grapes and pears are still under the old regulations. Misshapen examples of these can be sold in the shops, but will have to be labeled as for use in cooking rather than for eating fresh.
However, the banana is still under strict selling guidelines. “The bend of a banana must be the thickness of a transverse section of the fruit between the lateral faces and the middle, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, must be at a minimum of 27mm(1.06ins).”