[e2021]

Here is the actual list of myths with some text on each one. [1] This gets posted on HN a lot, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who actually clicks through and reads the debunking? Only about a 30 - 40% are actually false (eg. "No EU plan to ban Union Flag from British meat packs"), the majority are true, and the "debunking" takes the form of explaining why it's a good thing (eg. "EC plan to ban noisy toys", " EU to ban powerful vaccuum cleaners"), or there are no facts involved at all and they try to debunk someones opinion ("EU does not favour criminals over victims").

Also popular is distinction without a difference. The classic banana myth is one of these - No they don't ban vegetables with the wrong dimensions, they just put them in a lower quality class that no supermarkets will buy.

[1] https://wayback.archive-it.org/11980/20191004103218/https://...

[alkonaut]

> No they don't ban vegetables with the wrong dimensions, they just put them in a lower quality class that no supermarkets will buy.

That’s not a distinction without a difference it’s literally the only thing relevant to fruit and veg classification.

Obviously Supermarket always buys classified fruit & veg (and did before the EU). And obviously in a common market those classifications must be the same. A ban on ugly bananas is just that, a ban on supermarkets selling anything under the top classification, or a classification that doesn’t allow the sale of lower grade at all. This isn’t it. No one bans anyone from selling 2nd grade fruit and the fruit isn’t classed as not for human consumption.

The whole ugly fruit movement where supermarkets now sell other grades is literally a response to this!

> No EU plan to ban Union Flag from British meat packs

I didn’t read the referenced article but surely flags are not only allowed but even encouraged on meat packaging? Obviously the flag must match the country of origin of the meat but if it does how can it be a problem?

If a manufacturer used a Union Jack or to sell Irish or Latvian meat I sure hope both local and EU law would object (regardless of whether that company had used it in its logo for 100s of years). Was that was happened? And was someone really upset about it?

[slibhb]

Is is good that fruit is classified this way? Isn't it a truism at this point that large, nice looking fruit tastes worse?

Even if classification is necessary (and pre-dates the EU), should every country use the same classification? Or should they each do their own? If France decides they're tired of using the EU classification system, are they allowed to?

There are real differences of opinion about questions like this and these differences (rather than bare facts) are what's being disputed here.

[alkonaut]

> Is is good that fruit is classified this way?

So long as consumers prefer it, It’s unavoidable I think. It’s also hard to change.

But the thing is, lower grade isn’t wasted or much cheaper, it’s a bit cheaper but not enough so that consumers would choose it. So if a supermarket has 10 kind of apples, not one will be 2nd class. Why? Lots of reasons. Because people believe good looking fruit keeps better or tastes better perhaps. Because consumers buy fruit also as decoration, for example. But the same consumers also buy juice and ketchup and that’s where they buy the 2nd class fruit! We buy most our fruit and veg that way. I want my 1 orange I buy to use for my old fashioned cocktail to be without blemishes. The 10 oranges I buy as orange juice I don’t care how ugly they are.

> Isn't it a truism at this point that large, nice looking fruit tastes worse?

I think it’s pretty common at least that well tasting and slow varieties have more taste but have been displaced by beautiful fast growing varieties. It’s a shame but I’m not sure there is an easy solution to this problem. For cooking veg I’d love to buy ugly and better tasting.

> Even if classification is necessary (and pre-dates the EU), should every country use the same classification? Or should they each do their own? If France decides they're tired of using the EU classification system, are they allowed to?

Why then use the same classification in the whole country? Where there is one market there is one classification system.

This isn’t a classification invented for consumers, this is so someone ordering a ton of apples can compare the price they get from the Spanish grower with that of the Italian one. Without actually seeing the produce. In the consumer end, these classifications are mostly useless. The question is then: could the EU market function and be fair without some of the regulations such as classifications? Perhaps. And these things come and go. For one country to get an exception is difficult. If France wishes to change the classification system they’d probably do better by trying to change it. Again - the classifications aren’t important for French supermarket shoppers, it’s about whether an importer can directly compare French and Spanish produce. If French exporters want to sell on the EU market they’ll probably need to follow those rules.

Could they drop some EU rule where supermarkets don’t need to display these classifications to consumers? That sounds much easier. I’m not sure that’s even a requirement and if it is it seems quite unnecessary.

[tormeh]

> No they don't ban vegetables with the wrong dimensions, they just put them in a lower quality class that no supermarkets will buy

Except they do. The premium supermarkets don't, but immigrant shops, etc. do buy class II veggies. It's the supermarkets's own choice what class they want to buy. Some deliberately buy even lower-class ones and market them (justifiably, I believe) as good for the environment as compared to discarding them.

[LatteLazy]

Your example for the Union Jacks on meat [0] seems incorrect. They clarified that they don't plan to ban union Jack's on meat packaging:

>European Commission proposals on the labelling of pre-packaged fresh meat (from sheep, goats, poultry and pigs) will not prevent the use of the Union Jack or of other EU Member State flags.

And

>This is because – while the Commission has no intention of banning flags and other logos on pre-packaged meat – it does not intend either to propose making them compulsory.

That's a pretty solid debunking.

[0] https://wayback.archive-it.org/11980/20191004145238/https://...

[e2021]

I think we agree - I am using it as an example of a a myth that was actually debunked

[LatteLazy]

Oh, sorry, d'oh!