We'll fight them on the peaches, says Co-op

07-01-2001, 02:00 PM

THE Co-op will risk prosecution from today by selling peaches
below the minimum size allowed by the European Union.

The retailer, which has 1,100 stores, aims to expose the
"absurdity" of EU red tape that prevents more organic fruit
being made available. It claims it cannot meet minimum
grading standards without chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
The chain risks fines up to £10,000 and executives could also
be jailed for up to three months.

Under the EU regulation peaches sold between July and Oct 30
must be a minimum 56 millimetres - roughly two and a quarter
inches - in diameter. The rules were to prevent markets being
flooded with sub-standard fruit in peak seasons. But the Co-op
said last night that the rules took no account of organically
grown fruit which was often much smaller than the norm.

Wendy Wrigley, a Co-op marketing manager, said: "Organic
food already costs more to produce because yields are lower
and labour costs are higher. If farmers can't sell these peaches
because they are too small, then this will only drive prices
upwards and put organic fruit beyond the pockets of the average
supermarket shopper. We appreciate that the EU is trying to
introduce common standards across Europe but this
discriminates disproportionately against organic farmers.
Law-makers should work to bring prices down, not up."

Posters in Co-op stores will encourage shoppers to rebel against
the EU ruling with the slogan: "I'm small and perfectly formed,
but legally you can't buy me." EU rules cause problems with
other fruit which is usually sold for processing or used as
animal food if it is too small. The minimum sizes for Victoria
plums are 35 millimetres and 30 millimetres for class one and
two respectively. But smaller European varieties can be sold
legally at 28 millimetres.

The minimum for Cox and Gala apples is 55 millimetres.
Among other EU grading peculiarities "red" apple varieties only
achieve class one status - the top ranking - if their skins are at
least 50 per cent red. Less colour relegates them to grade two.
But if they are less than a quarter red they are sent for animal
food.

Flavour is not taken into account. The Co-op will also
announce today that it is banning more than 20 pesticides - six
of them in the United Kingdom - from use in the production of
food for its shelves. The products include chemicals used on
cabbages, sprouts, lettuces and carrots.

Under its new "Green and Pleasant Land" initiative it will throw
its support behind the Organic Targets Bill which seeks to
convert 30 per cent of British farmland to organic food
production by 2010. The Bill, promoted by the Sustain alliance,
also calls for a Government plan to boost organic farming.

It has attacked the £20 million a year the Government will
spend until 2006 to help farmers convert to organic as "a paltry
sum" compared with the £3 billion received by British
producers under Common Agricultural Policy support
measures. But recognising the need for pesticides in
mainstream agriculture, the Co-op is also calling for a "fast
track" system, to enable safer and more environmentally
friendly products to be be approved to replace older ones.

Catherine Fookes, organic targets co-ordinator at Sustain, said:
"We welcome the Co-op's commitment to agricultural reform
and we urge all other retailers to follow suit."