The commission, in a step backed by the UK, will this week attempt to reform strict rules governing standards on such matters as the colour of leeks, the bendiness of cucumbers and the shape of carrots.

In a vote in Brussels, Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany will support moves to reform the marketing standards amid fears that they are making the world food crisis worse.

However, France, Spain, Italy and other countries are expected to oppose the plan, claiming that the standards “play an important role in market operations while protecting consumers”. Critics suspect they are just protecting their vested interests.

The standards are so strict that thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables are discarded each year because they are not beautiful or big enough. Farmers throw away mountains of cherries, onions, peas, plums and spinach among other fruit and vegetables.

Last month a market trader in Bristol was prevented by inspectors from selling a batch of kiwi fruits because they were 1mm smaller than the rules allowed. Tim Down lost £1,000 in sales and was not allowed to give away the 5,000 fruit because they breached the rules.

Mariann Fischer Boel, the European agriculture commissioner, believes the regulations are outdated and is said to be amazed by attempts to block the reforms.

“In these days of high food prices it’s silly to throw stuff away,” said a spokesman for the commission. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Fischer Boel has pledged to press on with reform regardless of whether it is rejected this week.

The commission has drawn up a plan to scrap standards for 26 fruit and vegetables including apricots, onions, peas, carrots and melons.

In a compromise to try to push the reforms through it has agreed to maintain standards on 10 items, including tomatoes, apples, pears, strawberries, lettuce and kiwi fruit.

At present fruit and vegetables that do not meet the minimum standards cannot be sold as second-class produce, which leads to perfectly edible items being thrown away.

The rules on carrots, for example, say that they must be smooth and regular in shape and cannot be forked. They must also be a certain size. It is also an offence to sell bananas of “abnormal curvature”.