ffmpeg2theora aspect ratio

Hi,

I discovered the following lines in ffmpeg2theora.c (~l.550):

    if ((float)this->aspect_numerator/this->aspect_denominator < 1.09) {
        this->aspect_numerator = 1;
        this->aspect_denominator = 1;
        frame_aspect=(float)(this->aspect_numerator*this->picture_width)/
                            (this->aspect_denominator*this->picture_height);
    }

This prevents the correct display of video that has an pixel
aspect ratio of 1.09, which is the ratio with which some dvb
content is delivered.

This code was introduced in svn revision 14125 and was
whitespace corrected in svn revision 15823 and my question is
what is the purpose of this code?
Or: what is expected to break if these lines are removed?
The encoding of dvb content, at least, works better without it.

Cheers,
Stefan.