Film, Media & TV1 min ago
Check your Bananas
Following the ridiculous ruling by the EU on how curvy our bananas should be, does anybody know just how curvy they should be, and could you sue a supermarket for selling you a banana that breaks this law???
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If by "our" you're talking about in England and/or Wales, then there is no law to break. Click here.
The law may be unenforceable -as pointed out by IndieSinger - but that does not mean that the law does not exist.
Specifically, dirtyprotest and dilbert are both wrong in saying that "there is no such law" or that it was "invented" by the media (right-wing or otherwise).
The sale of bananas with excessive curvature was indeed banned by EU directive 2257/94, and I am fed up with pro-EU (and therefore anti-European and anti-democracy) fanatics pretending that the law does not exist.
(NB I am pro-European and therefore anti-EU)
Here's something else i've found -
EU Regulation 2257/94 requires that bananas are at least 13.97cm (5.5in) long and 2.69cm (1.06in) round and do not have "abnormal curvature," as set out in an eight-page directive drawn up in 1994.
Although a major supermarket fought this risible regulation, it was defeated finally when the House of Lords opined that the judgements rendered in its favour by two lower courts were without merit, and the case returned again to a lower court. The House of Lords ordered greengrocers across the entire UK to obey every EU horticultural regulation passed over the past 30 years concerning fresh produce and to conform to the myriad of rules covering size, length, colour and texture. According to an EU Commission official at the time the regulation was introduced, the ban on bent bananas was necessary to prevent them from being mistaken for a "bicycle wheel!" Which is perhaps more a comment on the sub-moronic status of the official concerned.
there is a directive which talks about minimum standards for bananas. Its hardly sinisister to try and put in place some minimum standards for the size of fresh fruit. Ask yourself if you understand the directive and who it effects before slagging it. fruits have always been classified so that consumers can be confident about size/quality. although to the Mail it may be indicative of the EU's sinister plan to make us all belgiums it really isn't a big blow to the banana eating population of Little Britain.
jim
i totally disagree with you jim, its obvious you haven't thought about your answer. What about all the people that grow the bananas? If they aren't the right size or curvature, so what? It does not mean that the banana is unfit to eat. If any food is edible and will have no negative effect on someones health, then noone has the right to put restrictions upon it. Some people might like small uncurved bananas. I know that i don't immediately look for the longest banana with the best 180 curve on it! so i expect others must do the same.
Look at the "Myth" site which I posted. You will see that it is the Agriculture Ministers and the industry who requested and helped formulate the legislation:
"Bananas are classified according to quality and size for international trade. Individual governments and the industry have in the past had their own standards with the latter's, in particular, being very stringent. The European Commission was asked by national agriculture ministers and the industry to draft legislation in this area. Following extensive consultation with the industry, the proposed quality standards were adopted by national ministers in Council in 1994."
The reason the bananas have to be curved is because the banas imported from fair trade countries tend to be curved. The "dollar banana" imported from america is long and straight and tends to be cheaper than fair trade bananas. This type of banana takes trade away from the countries that need it most, so the EU put a regulation on the number of bananas we can import from the USA, in order to improve trade with fair trade countires, allowing them to make more money in a bid to develop more. There isnt an actual law on how curvy the bananas should be!! thats just the media being over dramatic..........
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