Reality Check: Does the EU limit the number of bananas in a bunch?
- Published
The claim: Boris Johnson says the European Union will only allow bananas to be sold in bunches of two or three.
Reality Check verdict: There is no such rule - we popped out and bought a bunch of five without difficulty.
Addressing a crowd in Stafford, Boris Johnson said: "It is absurd we are told that you cannot sell bananas in bunches of more than two or three bananas."
A member of the tireless Reality Check team nipped off to a local shop to check this claim.
It was touch-and-go for a bit, as the self checkout said there was a problem with buying five bananas, but it turned out not to be a problem with EU regulations, and eventually the transaction was allowed.
We've been in touch with Vote Leave, who pointed us towards this directive from 2011., external It goes into considerable detail about how unripe bananas should be presented by wholesalers, but nowhere does it say that you are not allowed to sell bunches with more than two or three bananas in them.
If you are a wholesaler, you are not allowed to pack bananas in bunches of two or three - they have to either be single bananas or bunches of four or more. But that doesn't affect retailers, who can sell bunches of any size they like.
- Published9 May 2016
- Published22 February 2016