In a report July 8, the Washington Post took on the easy target of EU food regulations, ridiculing rules such those defining the bend in Class 1 cucumbers, the size of onions, and the ripeness of peaches. Such seemingly absurd regulations are frequently derided in the media, especially in Britain, but supported by a majority of EU governments, which want consumers to know what they are buying. Mariann Fischer Boel, a sensible Dane who is European Commissioner for Agriculture, wants to reduce regulations on fruit and vegetable marketing standards from 34 to ten, but faces an uphill and probably losing battle.
The story's dateline, Paris, once again betrays the legendary unwillingness of American journalists to report on EU matters from Brussels, the EU headquarters, which is just 1 hour 22 minutes north of Paris by train.
There is no doubt that many EU regulations could be simplified. Indeed the current Commission President, José Manuel Barroso of Portugal, has frequently promised to do so. One problem is that the demand for regulations, for example making vegetables easier to package, often comes from businesses in the member states, which put pressure on their governments which in turn put pressure on the Commission.
The Washington Post report, "Europe Debates Perfection It Demands of Its Produce,' concedes that some consumers, including an American expatriate who was interviewed, find the produce classifications useful for buying. But it adds:
for others, the efforts to regulate produce have simply gone too far.
Let's consider the onion for a moment, and the E.U.'s "Regulation (EEC) No 2213/83 of 28 July 1983 laying down quality standards for onions and witloof chicory." You would think that the 10 pages of standards and the 19 amendments and corrections made in the 25 years since the regulation's enactment would leave little doubt about the required size, shape and color of an onion, and the amount of peeling, bruising, staining, cracking, root tufting and sprouting that is permissible. You would be wrong.
In January 2007, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture issued a report in which it took 29 pages to explain "quality standards for onions," complete with 43 photographs.
In the interests of fairness, one might note that the story contains an element of the pot calling the kettle black. Anyone who tries to navigate the thousands of regulations covering the marketing and labeling of food in the United States will quickly find themselves ensnared in a similar jungle.
Charitable Americans cooking home-made jelly for the church bake sale might think twice if they were aware of the following:
“The law requires jelly to be 45 parts by weight juice to 55 parts by weight sugar. To determine the weight of the single strength juice when using a concentrate:
I. Check the Brix (% sugar) or soluble solids (using the refractometer) of the fruit juice or concentrate. For instance: apple concentrate (three-fold) at 40o Brix.
II. Multiply the percent solids by the weight of the ingredients and divide by 100. For instance 100 lbs apple concentrate at 40% solids.
(100 x 40) /100 = 4000/100 = 40
III. Subtract any added sugar solids for a sweetened or capped concentrate or juice.
IV. Multiply by the factor in Table 1
40 x 7.5 = 300
This means your 100 lbs. of 40o Brix apple concentrate was equal to 300 lbs. of single strength juice. Added sugar solids may be no higher ratio than 55/45 or 1.22 times the weight of the single strength juice:
In this case we have the equivalent of 300 lbs. of single strength juice.
300 x 1.22 = 366 lbs. of sugar solids may be added
The advantage of not diluting the concentrate to single strength is that cooking time may be regulated by judicious addition of water. The above combination would be only about 61% solids and the excess water must be “cooked off” until 65% solids is reached. The sugar ingredient may be added as a syrup and its water can be taken into account in the formulation.”
This is a game that U.S. bureaucrats can play just as well as the famous Eurocrats of Brussels.
This post was written by Reginald Dale, Transatlantic Media Network Director
