Commission Regulation (EC) No 1559/2006 of 18 October 2006 laying down minimum quality requirements for Williams and Rocha pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice under the production aid scheme (Codified version)
Date: 2006-10-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: codification of EU law, food processing, fruit product, pip fruit, production aid, quality standard

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1559/2006

of 18 October 2006

laying down minimum quality requirements for Williams and Rocha pears in syrup and/or in
natural fruit juice under the production aid scheme

(Codified version)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 of 28
October 1996 on the common organisation of the markets in
processed fruit and vegetable products (1), and in particular
Article 6(1) thereof,

Whereas:

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Products Processed from Fruit and Vege-
tables,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

This Regulation lays down the minimum quality requirements
that preserved Williams and Rocha pears in syrup and/or
in natural
in
syrup and/or in natural fruit juice’, as defined in point 2 of
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/2003, must meet.

juice, hereinafter

referred to as

‘pears

fruit

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2319/89 of 28 July
1989 laying down minimum quality requirements for
Williams and Rocha pears in syrup and/or in natural
fruit juice under the production aid scheme (2) has been
substantially amended (3). In the interests of clarity and
rationality the said Regulation should be codified.

Article 2

For the manufacture of pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit
communis L., varieties
the species Pyrus
juice only pears of
Williams and Rocha, shall be used. The raw material shall be
fresh, sound, clean and suitable for processing.

The first paragraph of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No
2201/96 established a production aid scheme for certain
products listed in Annex I thereto.

The raw material may have been chilled before being used for
the manufacture of pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice.

to avoid production of products

The aim of the minimum quality requirements to be
established is
for
which there is no demand or products which would
create distortion of the market. The requirements must
be based on traditional fair manufacturing procedures.

Article 3

Pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice must be manu-

1.
factured in one of the styles defined in paragraph 2.

of

The quality requirements laid down in this Regulation
constitute additional rules of application further to the
provisions
(EC) No
1535/2003 of 29 August 2003 laying down detailed
rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96
as regards the aid scheme for products processed from
fruit and vegetables (4).

Commission

Regulation

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 29. Regulation as last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 386/2004 (OJ L 64, 2.3.2004,
p. 25).

(2) OJ L 220, 29.7.1989, p. 51. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 996/2001 (OJ L 139, 23.5.2001, p. 9).

(3) See Annex I.
(4) OJ L 218, 30.8.2003, p. 14. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1663/2005 (OJ L 267, 12.10.2005, p. 22).

For the purpose of this Regulation the styles are defined as

2.
follows:

(a)

‘whole fruit’ means the whole fruit, with core and with or
without stalk;

(b) ‘halves’ means the cored fruit cut into two approximately

equal parts;

(c)

‘quarters’ means the cored fruit cut into four approximately
equal parts;

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(d) ‘slices’ means the cored fruit cut into more than four wedge-

(a)

foreign materials of vegetable origin;

shaped parts;

(e)

‘dice’ means the cored fruit cut into regular cube-like parts.

(b) peel;

3.
Each container with pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit
juice shall contain only one style, and the fruit or pieces thereof
shall be practically uniform in size. No other type of fruit may
be found in the container.

4.
The colour of pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice
shall be characteristic for the variety Williams or Rocha. A
slightly pink discoloration shall not be considered a defect.
ingredients shall be considered to be
Pears containing special
of characteristic colour if there is no abnormal discoloration for
the ingredients used.

Pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice shall be free of
5.
foreign materials of non-vegetable origin and from foreign
flavours and odours. The fruit shall be fleshy and may be
variable in tenderness but shall be neither excessively soft nor
excessively firm.

Pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice shall be prac-

6.
tically free from:

(c) blemished units.

Whole fruits, halves and quarters shall also be practically free
from mechanically damaged units.

Article 4

Fruit, or pieces thereof, shall be considered practically
1.
uniform in size when,
the
in a container,
largest unit is not more than twice the weight of the smallest
unit.

the weight of

If there are less than 20 units in a container, one unit may be
disregarded. When determining the largest and the smallest
units, broken units shall not be taken into consideration.

Pears in syrup and/or

2.
juice shall be
considered as complying with Article 3(6) when the following
tolerances are not exceeded:

in natural

fruit

Blemished units

Mechanically damaged units

Peel

Foreign material of vegetable origin:
— Core material
— Loose pear seeds
— Other material, including loose core material

Style

Whole, halves and
quarters

Other

15 % by number

1,5 kilograms

10 % by number

Not applicable

100 cm2 aggregate
area

100 cm2 aggregate
area

10 units

80

10 units

80

60 pieces

60 pieces

The tolerances allowed, other than those fixed by reference to
per cent by number, are per 10 kilograms drained net weight.

colour and which may penetrate into the flesh, in particular
bruises, scab and dark discoloration;

Cores shall not be considered as a defect in whole styles with
core.

3.

For the purposes of paragraph 2:

(a)

‘blemished units’ means fruit with discoloration on the
surface or spots which definitely contrast with the overall

(b) ‘mechanically damaged units’ means units which have been
severed into several parts, all of such parts that together
equal the size of a full unit being considered as a single
unit, or units where the trimming has been excessive and
which show serious gouges on the surface of the units
which substantially detract from the appearance;

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(c)

‘peel’ means both peel adhering to pear flesh and peel found
loose in the container;

(d) ‘foreign material of vegetable origin’ means vegetable
materials which are irrelevant to the fruit itself or which
have been attached to the fresh fruit but should have
been removed during processing,
core
material, pear seeds, stalks and leaves and pieces thereof.
Peel shall, however, be excluded;

in particular

(e)

‘core material’ means the seed cell or parts thereof whether
or not attached to the fruit, with or without seeds. Pieces of
core are considered as equivalent to one unit when, having
been aggregated, the pieces total approximately one half of
a core;

(f)

‘loose pear seeds’ means seeds which are not included in
core material but which are loose in the container.

Article 5

1.
The pears and the syrup and/or natural fruit juice shall
occupy at least 90 % of the water capacity of the container.

2.
The drained net weight of the fruit shall on average be at
least equal to the following percentages of the water capacity,
expressed in grams, of the container:

Style

Containers with a nominal water capacity of

≥ 425 ml

< 425 ml

Whole

Halves

Quarters

Slices

Dice

50

54

56

56

56

46

46

46

46

50

3. Where pears in syrup and/or in natural fruit juice are
packed in glass containers, the water capacity shall be reduced
by 20 ml before the percentages referred to in paragraphs 1 and
2 are calculated.

4.
Each container shall be marked with a reference iden-
tifying the date and year of production and the processor.
The marking, which may be in code form, shall be approved
by the competent authorities in the Member State where
production takes place.

These authorities may adopt additional provisions as to the
marking itself.

Article 6

The processor shall daily and at regular intervals during the
processing period verify that
the pears in syrup and/or in
natural fruit juice comply with the requirements for qualifying
for aid. The result of the verification shall be recorded.

Article 7

Regulation (EEC) No 2319/89 is repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as
references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance
with the correlation table in Annex II.

Article 8

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 18 October 2006.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission

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ANNEX I

Repealed Regulation with its amendment

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2319/89
(OJ L 220, 29.7.1989, p. 51)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 996/2001
(OJ L 139, 23.5.2001, p. 9)

Only Article 2

ANNEX II

Correlation table

Regulation (EEC) No 2319/89

This Regulation

Articles 1 to 4

Articles 1 to 4

Article 5(1), (2) and (3)

Article 5(1), (2) and (3)

Article 5(4), first sentence

Article 5(4), first subparagraph, first sentence

Article 5(4), second sentence, first part

Article 5(4), first subparagraph second sentence

Article 5(4), second sentence, second part

Article 5(4), second subparagraph

Article 6

Article 7

—

Article 8, first paragraph

Article 8, second paragraph

—

—

Article 6

—

Article 7

Article 8

—

Annex I

Annex II