BRUSSELS - BENDY cucumbers, knobbly carrots and other strangely shaped fruit and vegetables, long the source of jibes over EU micro-regulation, will be allowed back onto European supermarket shelves from Wednesday.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel admitted Tuesday that the rules on the curvature and shape of produce were long-standing examples of 'unnecessary red tape' emanating from Brussels.

'July 1 marks the return to our shelves of the curved cucumber and the knobbly carrot,' she said. 'We don't need to regulate this sort of thing at EU level. It is far better to leave it to market operators,' the commissioner added.

The changes also mean that consumers will be able to choose from the widest range of products possible. 'It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' size and shape,' she said.

The 27 EU nations gave the green light for the move last November, amid increasingly difficult economic times, though not unanimously. Up to now, European marketing standards have ensured for 20 years that only the most standard-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves.

In all, marketing standards for 26 fruits and vegetables are being scrapped, paving the way for the return to shopping trolleys of forked carrots, onions that are less than two thirds covered with skin and the bent cucumbers.

The rules had been derided as 'bonkers' by the likes of major British supermarket chain Sainsbury's, while major agricultural nations such as France have argued that scrapping the restrictions will lead to a fall in prices and thereby hit farmers. The decision will also get rid of 100 pages of EU legislation at a stroke.

The rules are to be scrapped for apricots, artichokes, asparagus, aubergines, avocados, beans, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflowers, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers, cultivated mushrooms, garlic, hazelnuts in shell, headed cabbage, leeks, melons, onions, peas, plums, ribbed celery, spinach, walnuts in shell, water melons, and chicory.

Standards are kept in place for 10 others, including several of the most popular items in European kitchens; apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes. These are being maintained as a compromise to opposed member states though individually nations may also exempt these from the standards if they are sold in the shops with an appropriate label.

'In practical terms, this means that an apple which does not meet the standard may still be sold in the shop, as long as it is labelled 'product intended for processing' or equivalent wording,' the EU commission said in a statement.

Rules for bananas, mainly grown outside the EU, are not affected as they are covered by different legislation. -- AFP