The European Commission has progressed its investigation into a suspected cartel in the banana and pineapple cartel involving Fyffes.

It has emerged that the Commission contacted Fyffes in February with questions as part of the inquiry, which began last summer.

Documents relating to Fyffes's proposed spin-off of a new property company contained reference to the latest stage in the process.

Under a section entitled "Litigation and Investigations", the company acknowledged that it has received a "request for information" from the Commission.

Fyffes said it "intends to continue to co-operate" with the Commission on the matter.

A spokesman for Fyffes said yesterday that the Commission's recent queries had been general in nature, relating to day-to-day operations at the company. The Commission also asked for information on how Fyffes fitted into the wider fruit sector.

The spokesman said Fyffes did not view the development as an escalation of the investigation, but rather as movement in the overall process.

The Commission is examining whether Fyffes and a number of other companies infringed Article 81 of the Treaty of Rome and Article 53 of the European Economic Agreement in the supply of bananas and pineapples. These provisions prohibit price fixing and market-sharing practices.

The study first came to light last June, when the Commission carried out inspections of a number of fruit firms in Europe, including Fyffes.