When I began my produce inspection career, in 1976, I never envisioned 30 years later I would be in a position to teach others using my produce experience. I began inspecting produce while employed for New York State Department of Agriculture. My first position with the USDA began in 1979, as an inspector on the Philadelphia Terminal Market.
The inspection activity involved commercial produce deliveries, as well as the inspection of imported commodities, most notably Table Grapes, Stone Fruit, Apples and Onions, mostly from Chile. The busy inspection activity led to many inspectors being hired during my time working on the market. Training these inspectors became the norm, teaching them how to interpret the U.S. Grade Standards and the Inspection Instruction Handbooks. Teaching the new inspectors to properly identify the defects and to make a judgment as to whether the defect should be scored, as damage or as serious damage became challenging. Teaching “Common Sense” was essential.
After working out of the Philadelphia office for seven years I moved to Harrisburg, PA and later to Albany, NY. With the change in location also came a change in training techniques. I moved from a “hands on” approach to a more formal lecture method of training. Digital pictures were taken and digital media became part of everyday life. By inserting the media into formal lessons I was now able to emphasize inspection uniformity throughout my lessons. By using the same picture I was able to explain the scoring guidelines and criteria for the specific defect, from inspector to inspector, from class to class.
In 2001, the USDA Fresh Products Branch created a National Training and Development Center, in Fredericksburg, VA, I was fortunate to be placed at the Training Center from its inception and I was allowed to develop produce inspection training lessons to be utilized by USDA licensed inspectors as well as for Industry Training Events.
The Industry training classes were held throughout the year at the Training Center and at specific requests, individual produce warehouses or distribution centers. These classes were developed to train produce buyers, salespeople, and quality control/assurance inspectors.
This experience has given me first hand knowledge of the industry’s needs pertaining to produce inspection. I have seen and heard the participants’ comments regarding the types of training they found beneficial and have been able to adapt to their desires and requests.
By listening I have established a working knowledge of effective training methods, using formal training supplemented by “hands on” training. Inspecting commodities along side the participants, teaching proper cutting methods when looking for internal defects, sampling techniques to ensure inspection results are accurate for the lot(s) being inspected, and identifying defects and their tolerances, has proved to be very rewarding. This experience has given me the confidence to train individuals on how to inspect produce based on Industry-specific Standards and/or U.S. Grade Standards.