Eeeeewwwwww

I tend to think that if all the rules and regulations we have are enforced, that we would generally be ok. From financial shenanigans to gun laws to you name it. There are places for improvement, surely (assault weapons come to mind), but I think we modern beings over-legislate and under-enforce. Look back in history and I think you might find the reverse. This will be no great moral or social blog, for what follows is sadly ridiculous.

About twenty years ago the European Union (The EU was established in 1993, so I'm a little fuzzy on how it did anything prior to that... but that's another topic) set up marketing standards for fruits and vegetables. It set guidelines for the shapes, sizes and colors of 26 fruits and vegetables. It became illegal to sell misshapen fruit, undersized vegetables and poorly colored produce. How strict are these standards? There are guidelines for the proper curvature of bananas... the arc has to be in proper proportion to the diameter and length of the fruit. Madness. Lumpy squash is unacceptable. A two-pronged carrot also rejected. Tons of food are discarded annually based only on appearance. In England, these standards have been followed quite closely. Some other EU states don't enforce them. So... you have a silly rule. Who is wrong here... the English for policing their fruit or the French for thumbing their noses at the silly standards? There's no good answer. How about... start with good law and enforce it.

The EU is overturning the marketing standards. That's good news, except they are only doing away with guidelines for 16 of the 26 fruits and vegetables... 10 will remain under close scrutiny. I feel safe knowing that I won't come across an undersized apple the next time I'm in London. But here, I take my life into my own hands every time I go to Food Lion. Danger lurks in every bin... straight bananas, knobby potatoes and the occasional pear-shaped pear.