Country/Farmers Markets in North County Dublin

sirpsycho

Qprmeath wrote: »

Eggs probably bought in Lidl!!!! I knew a fella used to buy his "organic" eggs there. We sell locally grown potatoes and tomatoes from our house in Gormanston. Best Queens you will get anywhere in the area. We also supply a good few North county Dublin shops with potatoes.

This the same house that sells the raspberries? I bought a few punnets recently, very very tasty :cool:

Corsendonk

LeoB wrote: »

I dont see the point in polishing the carrots anyway, Is this an E.U. directive? Surley we would wash them before we cook them anyway so while they get washed we still have to prepare them for cooking.

Forget the E.U directive that was lifted last year????? one of the vegatables had to be a certain shape to go on the shelves, was it carrotts? Ah yeah fcuk the taste make sure its straight!!

Glad you liked the last reply, fingers crossed you get this one, everytime I wrote it the screen went blank. First of all the carrots are polished for the consumer, I know madness since there going to peel the skin anyway, but what the customer wants they get. Fergal Quinn called it "crowning the customer" after all.

Second, yes stores should have a limited amount of refrigeration for items such as soft fruit, carrots, grapes and lettuces to maintain optimun quality. Produce such as tomatoes and peppers shouldn't be displayed in fridges, moist atmosphere encourages breakdown but sometimes you see stores make that mistake cause they want all there summer salads together.

Thirdly, the EU directive you refer to is actually a regulation so its set in law in all member states. Its name is the EU Marketing Standards and its actually a very common sense regulation. It is often quoted out of context by the tabloids when they have a poor news week.

The EU is all about free trade and the various different standards of quality between produce from member states was a barrier to free trade. So to lift this barrier the EU Marketing Standards were invented. The standards go into great detail on certain fruit and vegetable lines hence bend of bananas or colouration of apples. Potatoes have a derogation from the regs and not all produce lines are covered. The standard also covers labelling of produce with Class and country of origin. It sets out who should inspect product to ensure it meets the class that is declared and how produce should be sampled to ensure every member state inspects produce to the same level.

In July 2009, the standards were reviewed to allow greater tolerances in certain products and to faciltate produce processing. If you care for some bed time reading, the link below is the new version of standards. Don't mind the title the Dept of Agri haven't updated as yet. All industries have standards and specifications so why not produce.

http://www.agriculture.irlgov.ie/media/migration/farmingsectors/horticulturebeekeeping/eumarketingstandardsfruitvegetables/Unofficial%20consolidation%20of%20marketing%20standards%20provisions.pdf

But the standards are basic compared to some standards that retailers have for there growers. Consumer feedback has led retailers to tighten there specifications as they wish to maintain there sales and reduce there losses. So if the consumer demands a green granny apple, there is no tolerance for a blemish like sunblush or apples have to have higher pressure because the consumer wants a crunchy apple.

Sadly we shop with our eyes so that has led to produce been bred for look, disease resistence, shelflife and taste is an after thought. Ironically supermarkets now sell fruit with "superior" taste with a superior price as an exception when it should be the norm.

LeoB

Have not read the link but on your third point. These people have been responsible for thousands of tons of good vegatables being dumped!!!! It was a joke.

Also some of the "experts" could not tell the difference between Irish and imported produce and this I have seen. The Irish was better in each example of tomatoe I saw examined

Do you not think Fergal Quinn, (while he changed some aspects of shopping for the better) and his likes have a lot to answer for? Jeasus and him out advising JCs on how to market things better.

Fully agree we do shop with our eyes so the next time we see a sign for a farmers market go and buy some Fingal or Irish produce..

Corsendonk

LeoB wrote: »

Have not read the link but on your third point. These people have been responsible for thousands of tons of good vegatables being dumped!!!! It was a joke.

Also some of the "experts" could not tell the difference between Irish and imported produce and this I have seen. The Irish was better in each example of tomatoe I saw examined.

First of all if the produce doesnt meet Class 1 it gets graded into Class 2 and sold at Class 2 prices usually in the Corporation market in Dublin. Since you have a fixation with tomatoes you probably remember the old size grading system of tomatoes. Class 1 is D, Class 2 are E and C. A sample of the minimun requirements of the standard are below that apply to both Class 1 and 2. I don't think any of us will be too keen to buy anything that falls below the minimun listed below.

Minimun Quality Requirements-subject to tolerances
-Intact
-Sound; products affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make them unfit for consumption are excluded
-clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter.
-practically free from pests,
-practically free from damage caused by pests affecting the flesh
-free of abnormal external moisture
-free of any foreign smell or taste.

I think when you start digging through the grade offs you will find that apart from the odd grading mistake the majority of the grade off is cattle feed at best.

The experts I refer to are Dept of Agriculture Inspectors who are responsible for inspecting product in stores, the ports and the airport to ensure it meets the standard. They also check that the product is correctly labelled. To mislabel the country of origin of a product is illegal as not only does it misleads the consumer but compromises the traceability of the product in the event of a food scare at the source of the product.

P.S Alot of local Rush growers supply the supermarkets still! As I said not many growers out there these days and most are located in north east fingal. It is a business and the supermarkets have far and away the largest customer base.

LeoB

I remember the old tomatoe grading ok. And the chips that would cut the hands of you.

My point was we have dumped so much food which was perfectly ok over the last 20 years. Maybe if people you a knew a bit more about produce they would insist on buying local and odd shaped carrotts.

I know very little about the science of the veg but know good spuds, and other veg when they are to be eaten.

Corsendonk

I agree on your last point, people waste produce by throwing it out when it passes its best before date but it is still acceptable to use. It could be said to be a cynical approach by supermarkets to get people to reshop next week. Buy one get one free promotions on food have been shown in the UK to increase food waste and there have been calls to ban the practice. The whole way people shop has changed too, people would shop every couple of days buying fresh, now people do the big shop on the one day between 1-3 supermarkets.

The Hill Billy

Leo/Corsendonk:

Great topic for discussion. Not for DCN though & off-topic in this thread. If you want me to copy relevant posts to Food & Drink let me know.

HB