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

[Guest guest]

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."