Press Release: The return of the bendy cucumber: ‘wonky’ fruit and vegetables back on sale from 1st July

European Union rules governing the size and shape of many fruit and vegetables ceased to exist from 30 June, 2009, when specific marketing standards for 26 types of fruit and vegetables were repealed. The Commission's initiative to get rid of these standards is a major element in its ongoing efforts to streamline and simplify EU rules and cut red tape. For 10 types of fruit and vegetables, including apples, strawberries and tomatoes, marketing standards remained in place. But even for these 10, Member States could for the first time allow shops to sell products that don't respect the standards, as long as they are labelled to distinguish them from 'extra', 'class I' and 'class II' fruit. In other words, the new rules allowed national authorities to permit the sale of all fruit and vegetables, regardless of their size and shape.