kiwi

Market trader forced to bin thousands of kiwi fruits - because the EU says they are
ONE MILLIMETRE too small

By Daily Mail Reporter 26th June 2008
Tim Down & kiwi fruit
Tim Down holds a legal kiwi fruit
in his right hand along with an illegal
kiwi fruit in his left hand


He received a visit from a team of Horticultural Marketing Inspectors from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) - an executive arm of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The inspectors, who have an office in the Wholesale Fruit Centre, conducted a random inspection of Mr Down's stall to check whether his produce met strict EC laws.

Regulations state that Class II kiwis must weigh a minimum of 62g - but the two-hour inspection discovered that a number of the batch weighed 58g.





Selling them - or giving them away - is an offence under section 14 of the Agriculture and Horticulture Act 1964 and carries a maximum fine of £5,000.

Mr Down, of Clifton Wood, Bristol, said that four grams in weight was equal to about one millimetre in diameter.

He added: 'They were here for about two hours and went through a lot of my stock using their own little scales.

'Then they dropped the bombshell - my kiwis were under weight by four grams, and I would not be allowed to sell them, give them away, or much else.' Mr Down will now be forced to bin the entire batch - losing £1,000 in sales and paying a £100 disposal fee to to the Wholesale Centre.

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