"UglyFruit" news and stories

Too curvy or just right? Photo: cyborgsuzy/flickr

After a 20-year ban, the European Commission is allowing the sale of less than perfect fruits and vegetables.

"July 1 marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot," Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, says. "More seriously, this is a concrete example of our drive to cut unnecessary red tape ... It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' size and shape."

For years, the European Commission regulated the size and shape of fruits and vegetables sold on the continent.