Bent Cucumbers!.....

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Thread started 07/23/08 3:32pm

Steadwood

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Bent Cucumbers!.....

Yes!.. Now we can have bent cucumbers back

Ahem..as you were

Bent cucumbers? With prices up, EU won't bin them

By Jeremy Smith Reuters - Wednesday, July 23 06:49 pmBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Twisted carrots, warped leeks and bent cucumbers may soon appear -- officially -- on EU shop shelves as Europe's farm chief overrides opposition from leading producer countries to her marketing simplification plan.

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One of the most popular jibes about EU over-regulation, where zealous Brussels bureaucrats are portrayed as wanting to set permitted sizes, lengths -- and "bendiness" -- for household fruit and vegetables, has come back to haunt the European Union.

But this time, Brussels wants to cut the red tape and get rid of what it calls "unnecessary marketing standards" -- in part because of the rising price of food.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel wants to scrap 26 of 36 marketing standards that apply to a wide range of products such as artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, plums, spinach and watermelon. The 10 remaining items account for 75 percent of the EU's cross-border trade in this area.

"The proposal would ... allow member states to exempt fruit and vegetables from specific marketing standards if they are sold with a label 'products intended for processing' or equivalent wording," the Commission said in a statement.

"Such products could be either misshapen or under-sized and could for example be used by consumers for cooking or salads. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw these products away or destroy them," it said.

This week, EU national experts were asked again what they thought of allowing misshapen fruit or strange-sized vegetables to be marketed. Of the 27 countries, 15 were opposed -- including the leading producers France, Italy, Spain and Greece.

Germany, Britain, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands, among other countries, would like to see the existing rules scrapped.

EU agriculture ministers are expected to vote on Fischer Boel's plan before the end of the year but not before October at the earliest, officials say.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/...3ac92.html

I have a firm grip on reality...Maybe just not this reality

hokie	My evil mind saw something else...
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BlueZebra	JuliePurplehead said: No woman over the age of 20 should be without a bent cucumber. ::faints::
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obsessed	Looks like Kida's learnin' the routine
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obsessed	Steadwood said: obsessed said: Looks like Kida's learnin' the routine Yeah... Fishsslap the troll Yup, you certainly get fishslapped a lot
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obsessed	KidaDynamite said: obsessed said: Looks like Kida's learnin' the routine Really?! This solves everything, or so I've been told
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