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Sainsbury’s lobbies against ‘bonkers’ EU fruit and vegetable regulations

November 3, 2008

• Sainsbury's pulls new veg range from sale as managers are threatened with criminal record
• Supermarket ‘Save our Ugly Fruit and Veg' campaign could slash fruit and veg prices by up to 40%

Today Sainsbury's launches its ‘Save our Ugly Fruit and Veg' campaign in a bid to force the EU to relax its strict specifications on selling cheaper fresh produce.

The retailer has written to the EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel and Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Hilary Benn expressing its concerns over ‘bonkers' regulations and has launched an online poll for customers to join forces in the fight for ‘wonky' fruit and veg.

And in a further move, this week Sainsbury's had planned to launch the first of a series of illegal, mis-shapen fruit and vegetables, branded as a ‘Halloween' range, which would have been up to 40% cheaper than the standard alternatives in store. The law-breaking vegetables consisted of ‘Witches fingers - carrots with more than one finger, ‘Zombies brains' - undersized cauliflowers and ‘Ogres toenails' - bendy cucumbers amongst others.

However, in a last minute change of fortune, Sainsbury's decided to pull them from sale as it became apparent that store managers could receive an individual criminal record for breaking EU law if the items were sold in their stores.

Examples of the ridiculous EU regulations which prevented the Halloween veg range being launched are:

• It is illegal to sell a cauliflower if it is anything less than 11cm in diameter
• It is also illegal to sell carrots that are forked (with more than one root)
• An onion must be at least two thirds covered with skin for it to be acceptable

These, along with other defects, means that up to 20% of British farmers' onion production goes to waste as soon as it comes out of the ground. 

NFU Horticulture board chairman Richard Hirst said: "Farmers and growers work extremely hard to produce quality food but nature does not always comply with a perfectly rounded apple and poker straight carrot. People should be given the chance to buy odd shaped fruit and veg as they taste just as good."

Sue Henderson, Brand Integrity and Sustainability Manager at Sainsbury's says: "We have been struggling to fit a square peg in a round hole for too long now when it comes to conforming to the more controversial elements of the EU regulations. We're not allowed to use up to 20% of what's produced in this country and in the current credit crunch climate, we cannot continue to waste this much food before it even leaves the farms.  Buying wonky veg would have saved cash-strapped Britons up to nearly 40% on some items such as carrots. It not only saves money, it also reduces waste and supports our British farmers. We strongly believe that now is the right time to challenge the impact these regulations have on our customer's choice."

Founder of parenting website Netmums.com Siobhan Freegard says: "We are 100% behind Sainsbury's - fruit and vegetables are created by the wonder of nature, not manufactured in factories to minute specifications and generally they end up chopped, diced or sliced into meals anyway. We want our children to know about and enjoy the wonky, often amusing shapes that nature presents us with. Our children come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and we are quite happy to have our veg come that way too...it's natural! We also find this obsession with perfection causes children to become over fussy and ready to toss aside fruit that is perfectly good but not waxwork-style perfect to look at."

Notes to editors:

Sainsbury's has set up its "Save our British Fruit & Veg" campaign as an online poll at http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/foodandwine

Examples of % waste created by current EU regulations:

• Onions - up to 20%
• Carrots - up to 15%

Enquiries:

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