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20160512 - EU's Bendy Bananas Rules

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To Properly Explain The EU's Bendy Bananas Rules: Yes, They're Real Tim Worstall Contributor Given the Brexit referendum in my native UK, the story about how the European Union insists that bendy bananas are illegal to sell has popped up again. And the usual defense is being made of those rules: that industry asked for these standards and the EU simply did as industry asked. However, that's not really quite and totally what happened, and underlying this is a basic economic problem over public policy which needs to be explained. I should note here two things: One, that I am hugely biased against the very idea of the existence of the European Union itself. I think it's a bad idea and everyone should leave. I'm also one of the few people around who has actually written an international standard so do have some direct experience of the point under discussion (I wrote the scandium standard contract for the Minor Metals Traders Association). The s...

Marketing standards for fresh bananas in EU

Color index numbers for banana ripening

Bananas market inspection instructions

Quality standards for bananas

QUALITY STANDARDS FOR BANANAS I. DEFINITION OF PRODUCE This standard applies to bananas of the varieties (cultivars) of Musa (AAA) spp., Cavendish and Gros Michel subgroups, referred to in Annex II, for supply fresh to the consumer after preparation and packaging. Plantains, bananas intended for industrial processing and fig bananas are not covered. II. QUALITY This standard defines the quality requirements to be met by unripened green bananas after preparation and packaging. A. Minimum requirements In all classes, subject to the special provisions for each class and the tolerances allowed, the bananas must be: - green and unripened, - intact, - firm, - sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded, - clean, practically free from visible foreign matter, - practically free from pests, - practically free from damage caused by pests, - with the stalk intact, without bending, fungal damage or dessication, - with...

Codex standard for bananas 2005