Looking out for the little guy

Some silliness across the pond:

The European Union has barred a British market vendor from selling a batch of kiwi fruits because they are one millimeter smaller than E.U. rules allow.

The Daily Mail reports that Tim Down's stall in the city of Bristol was examined by government food inspectors last week who told him that he had to trash the 5,000 slightly undersized kiwis.

Down says he will lose $2,000 by not selling the fruit. And, he has even been told that he is forbidden to give any of the fruit away, and that if he does he will be slapped with a fine of around $10,000.

He says, "They are saying I'm a criminal for selling this fruit — but the real crime is that all this fruit will go to waste — all because it's one millimeter too small."

Thank heavens the EU beaurocrats were there to protect consumers from the evils of Big Kiwi!

I wonder what training is involved to become an official kiwi inspector. And do you think the kiwi inspector is a specialist, or are inspectors cross-trained to be able to handle all types of fruit?

Seriously, though, it's important to remember stories like this when you hear folks on the Left assert that we should be more like Europe.