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Postmanx Donating Member (524 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 12:29 PM
Original message
Tomato Tyrants Ban Better Fruit
Yes, it’s FOX News but the article is about the little guy getting worked over by the Florida Tomato Committee and well worth the read.

Uglyripes are picked pink and shipped in specialized packing to ensure freshness. That makes them more expensive, yet consumers had been plucking them off the shelves by the armful because of their sweet taste and juicy, chin-dripping goodness. Customers, it seems, value taste in tomatoes far more than they value shape, color and uniformity.

The Florida Tomato Committee ruled last week that Procacci’s Uglyripes are simply too ugly to be sold as a Florida tomato. The decision will cost Procacci about $3 million, and will rob tomato lovers across the country of a great-tasting fruit (yes, the tomato is a fruit).

Never mind customer tastes, or taste in general. The FTC’s only concern is that a tomato be red, round, and indistinguishable from the tomatoes around it. “ has nothing to do with taste,” committee compliance officer Skip Jonas told the New York Times, “taste is subjective.” Obviously.

These marketing committees are anachronistic -- assuming they were ever very good ideas in the first place. In fact, the Uglyripe case has revealed what these committees really are – government-sanctioned protectionist rackets designed to stifle innovation, protect the industry’s dinosaurs, and keep a better product from ever becoming competitive.
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jpgray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. Great. More green tomatoes gassed into redness for everyone!
:crazy:
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fertilizeonarbusto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 12:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. What crap!
Tomatoes SUCK because of these people.
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Trillo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 12:37 PM
Response to Original message
3. There is no free market?
If the customer can't decide what tomato to buy,
then what is being said about market forces?

A committee, sometimes referred to as a syndicate, will decide what is best for consumers: consumers are not allowed the freedom to decide for themselves which tomato is best.
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illflem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 12:40 PM
Response to Original message
4. That same attitude that looks matter more than taste
is why the Red Delicious is no longer the popular apple variety it once was. Many growers lost their shirts when the consumers learned that good looking apples taste like cardboard. The Florida commission could learn a valuable lesson if they just looked.
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Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
5. Stupid bastards. They should call themselves
The Florida Tomatoe Committee.

But then what do you expect from Jeb Bush's Florida?
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wryter2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 03:39 PM
Response to Original message
6. That's why I won't buy tomatoes
I only eat tomatoes I've grown myself. I'm sick of spending my money on pink cardboard.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
7. Wait a minute. I don't understand why he has to stop
selling the tomatoes; it sounds to me like they're just saying he can't put a "florida tomato" label on them.

And if people like them, they won't give a damn if they have a "florida tomato" sticker on them or not, will they? I wouldn't care.

So why is he going to stop selling them? I don't get it.

Furthermore, they'll take my Uglyripes away when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers. Those are about the only winter 'maters that are worth eating.

Redstone
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yellowcanine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:06 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. But he could still say "grown in Florida" correct? Actually I am not sure
he wouldn't win this in court anyway. I can see a marketing group being able to trademark a name like "Jersey Fresh" or whatever, but "Florida Tomato" seems pretty generic. Of course there are Walla Walla Onions but is not coopting a whole state name. Any trademark lawyers out there?
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baba Donating Member (452 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 03:56 PM
Response to Original message
8. Uglyripe is the cutest name for a tomato!
It makes me giggle.
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Tyler Durden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:00 PM
Response to Original message
9. Try tomatoes from LEAMINGTON, Ontario.
Canadian home of H. J. Heintz. They grow more hydroponic and greenhouse tomatoes there than anywhere. AND they taste good.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Thanks for the tip, Tyler
I've found most Canadian produce to be of higher quality than what we can get in the States in general.

The hydroponic tomatoes from Holland aren't bad, either.

Redstone
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Shakespeare Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
12. Our highly prized heirloom tomatoes in NoCal are butt-ugly, too.
Big, knobby, oddly colored things--but the flavor is amazing. If we can keep the slow food movement growing, idiocy like this (that's also not so great for our bodies) may actually go on the decline.

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/index.html
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pompano dem Donating Member (17 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:49 PM
Response to Original message
13. START A BOYCOTT OF ALL FLORIDA TOMATOES
Until this injustice is fixed we need to start a boycott of all Florida Tomatoes. The way to do this is to call your grocer and tell them you will no longer shop at stores that sell Florida Tomatoes. The poor guy can only sell his tomatoes in Florida and they taste damn good. Who's with me?
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jdj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-13-05 04:52 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. he's obviously taking sales away from someone's inbred cousin
or something.

someone who sits on the board knows somebody who's losing money.
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