Crooked carrots saved

Euro-MPs have voted to ensure that crooked carrots and curvy cucumbers can continue to be sold legally in shops.

They have voted down a bid by Spanish MEPs to restore old EU rules that restricted the sale of imperfect-looking fruit and vegetables.

The controversial proposal to reinstate the "community marketing rules" initially gained the support of the European Parliament's agriculture committee in February, but in March it was heavily defeated by a vote of all MEPs in Brussels.

Liberal Democrat MEPs have welcomed the continued rejection of a scheme which had in the past led to perfectly healthy fruit and vegetables being thrown away.