Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Area 8C
9 Millbank
c/o Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
Telephone 08459 33 55 77
Website www.defra.gov.uk
Our ref RFI00002783
Mr Paul Perrin
[FOI #13927 email]
Date 27 July 2009
Dear Mr Perrin
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: COST OF EC MARKETING STANDARDS TO UK
WHILST IN OPERATION AND QUANTITY OF FOOD REJECTED DUE TO THESE
STANDARDS
Thank you for your request for information about EC Marketing Standards for fresh fruit
and vegetables, which we received on 1 July 2009. We are dealing with your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Your request was for information on
1. the cost of the Marketing Standards to the UK while they were in operation, and
2. the quantity of food that was produced but rejected as not meeting the Standards.
You also asked whether we knew of any information held elsewhere that could assist you
in finding answers to these questions.
Marketing Standards have existed in the UK for many years and since membership of the
EU they have been standardised at that level. In answer to your first question, to the best
of my knowledge no study has been done that has looked at the cost of the standards to
the UK while they have been in operation. We did undertake an Impact Assessment as
part of our recent consultation process on the revised EC Standards but this focused on
our decisions in relation to implementing and enforcing the changes and many of the costs
and benefits highlighted were linked to IT systems which aid our enforcement of the
regime, and these have only been in place since 2005. The information you requested is
therefore not held.
The objective of EC Marketing Standards is to keep products of unsatisfactory quality off
the market. They also aim to ensure that produce is accurately labelled, guide production
to meet consumer requirements and facilitate trade under fair conditions. The Standards
also provide a degree of consumer protection in a sector where most products are highly
perishable and serious defects in the product can develop extremely rapidly. They help
ensure that internal pests and disease, as well as soiling, do not affect produce, and
determine whether produce is of the right maturity. They also ensure that produce is not
marketed too early.
It is a common misconception that misshapen fruit and vegetables could not be sold under
EC Marketing Standards. For example under Class II the variations in shape, size and
colouring are more generous and there is more scope for variation in weight and size in
consignments. For example bent cucumbers were allowed as Class II and even totally
crooked ones could be sold if packed separately. It also allows for up to 10% of produce
to be outside (worse than) Class II, providing it is not rotten. However, the revised
changes introduced from 1 July this year have provided greater opportunity to allow
misshapen produce to be sold.
In your second point you also query the quantity of fruit and vegetables that has been
produced but rejected as not meeting these Standards. While we do not hold the precise
information that you requested, the following may nevertheless be of interest to you. In
2007/08 the Rural Payments Agency Inspectorate, which enforces the EC Standards in
England and Wales, inspected 196,000 tonnes of produce out of which only 2,767 tonnes
were outgraded, with a further 13,435 tonnes requiring their intervention in relation to
labelling defects or downgrading to bring them back into conformity with the Regulations.
The majority of the outgraded produce would have gone into either the food processing or
animal feed industries, with very little actually going to landfill. I should point out that
supermarkets often have their own more exacting quality standards which are higher than
the EC Standards so fruit and vegetables may be rejected by industry through the
production chain but this is more likely to be for not meeting customer specifications rather
than EC Marketing Standards. Again, however, there would be an alternative market for
most of this produce.
In addition I am aware of a limited study by the Food Chain Centre that has looked at
reducing waste throughout the fresh produce industry, although this did not consider
Marketing Standards. It does mention premium grading but this could be grading to the
higher standards of the supermarkets which would most likely still have happened in the
absence of EC Standards. In addition this report considers waste as any proportion of the
product not sold for the intended price i.e. final consumption, but as I have said there are
various other outlets for the produce. A link to the report is:
http://www.foodchaincentre.com/FoodChainFiles/NEW%20foodchainfiles/Cutting%20Cost
s%20-
%20Adding%20Value%20in%20Fresh%20Produce/u)%20Applying%20Lean%20Thinking
%20to%20the%20Fresh%20Produce%20Industry.pdf
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) are currently undertaking a study
which I believe will look at waste in the fresh produce chain but again I am not aware of
how detailed this study will be. A report on the study should be available shortly via the
WRAP webs
ite: http://www.wrap.org.uk.
Yours sincerely
Amanda Scarfe
Direct Line 020 7238 6780
Fax
020 7238 5063
Email
[email address]
Annexe A
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request you may
make a complaint or appeal against our decision within 40 working days of the date of this
letter. Please write to Clive Porro, Head of Defra’s Information Rights Team at, Area1B
Ergon House, Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AL, (email:
[email address]) who will arrange for an internal review of your case.
Details of Defra’s complaints procedure can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/complain/info.htm
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please note that generally the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first exhausted
Defra’s own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
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