GOODBYE bendy bananas. Farewell curved cucumbers. So long chunky carrots. The European Union has finally triumphed in its quest to tame nature and keep unusually shaped fruit and vegetables off our shop shelves.

The House of Lords yesterday ordered greengrocers across the country to obey every EU horticultural regulation passed over the past 30 years concerning fresh produce and conform to the myriad of rules covering size, length, colour and texture.

The law lords rejected the argument, put forward by the supermarket Asda, that a legal blunder in 1973 had made the EU laws unenforceable. Now greengrocers will have to ensure that under EU regulation 2257/94 their bananas are at least 13.97cm (5.5in) long and 2.69cm (1.06in) round and do not have “abnormal curvature”, as set out in an eight-page directive drawn up in 1994.

The ban on bendy bananas was necessary, according to an EU Commission official at the time, to prevent them from being mistaken for a “bicycle wheel”.

Organic cucumbers will have to straighten up their act, as well. Any that curve more than 10mm per 10cm in length cannot be sold as a Class 1 product.

Peaches must not be less than 5.6cm in diameter between July and October, and Class 1 Victoria plums must measure at least 3.5cm across.

Carrots that are less than 1.9cm wide at the thick end are not allowed, except in baby varieties. Not unreasonably, however, red apples will be illegal if less than 25 per cent of the surface is red.

Stephen Alambritis, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said that the ruling could ruin some retailers. “It is ridiculous to expect small shopkeepers to have to have to double check every single piece of fruit and vegetable before it goes on sale,” he said. “Small businesses have neither the manpower nor the resources to check something like that” — unlike the bigger supermarkets.

They insisted that the regulations would make little difference to their working practices because they already adhered to all the necessary European directives.

The Law Lords’ ruling stemmed from a dispute between an Asda store in Fareham, Hampshire, and inspectors for the Department for Rural Affairs. It reached the House of Lords after Defra lost a lengthy court battle over the sale of dirty aubergines and oranges, lemons and plums that also carried no information about countries of origin or class. Defra alleged 14 breaches of European marketing standards. But the district judge threw out the prosecution, saying thast the rules used to bring the case were “unknown to law” in England and Wales.

Defra took the case to the High Court in June last year but lost again. Yesterday the law lords decided to reverse the rulings of the two lower courts. They referred the case back to South Hampshire Magistrates’ Court where the Asda store, and Graham Godley, its grocer, must stand trial once again.

Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, the lead law lord, said that the case raised the question of whether statutory provisions enacted in Britain effectively criminalised contraventions of the EU regulations concerned.

He said: “I am unable to agree with the interpretation given by the courts below.

“I consider there is no room for doubt on the proper interpretation of the 1964 Agriculture and Horticulture Act and the Grading of Horticultural Produce (Amendment) Regulations 1973.”

He added: “I would declare that the offences charged are offences known to the law. I would quash the adjudication of the justices, set aside the order of the Divisional (High) Court, and remit the matter to the justices for trial.”

Nick Agarwal, a spokesman for Asda, said that the group would continue to adhere to European horticulture regulations but that it still had doubts that those passed since 1973 had been incorporated into British law.

He added that the Fareham branch would be defending any allegations brought against it after the House of Lords ruling.

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