I guess a civil servant has to be diplomatic when correcting the Embassy and the Consulate.
A follow-up with the Zoll regarding conflicting information:
It appears you have been given wrong advise by both the Embassy and Consulate. If you are bringing any fruits or vegetables from the Americas (and other countries, as listed on our web site), you will always need a phytosanitary certificate issued by the country of origin for the plants, parts of plants or plant products you bring to Germany. Since you will not be able to obtain such a certificates when you buy fruits and vegetables in the markets/from farmers, it is not allowed to import them into Germany.
So, there you have it!