International Produce Training

When inspecting plums it always a good idea to cut a few plums in each sample to look for internal discoloration.  There is usually no external indication which plum might show the problem.  As a common practice, I start cutting the plums with the most give, the riper plums in the sample.  If those plums show indications of internal discoloration then I continue to cut the remainder of  the plums in the sample, leaving the most firm plums for last.  If only the softer plums are showing the problems then I would only cut those plums in subsequent samples.

As you can see from the image above, always make a crosswise cut, in the middle of the plum.  The plums with internal discoloration will show a discolored flesh ranging from a darker than normal flesh color to a very dark color. 

 According to the USDA Inspection Instructions,  if you notice the flesh is darker in color than the normal flesh of a good plum, it is to be scored as Damage.   If the affected flesh shows any dark discoloration or if it is soft, then the plum would be scored as Serious Damage. 

Confused? 

In order to interpret what the USDA is saying, the plum may be scored as Damage or as Serious Damage by internal discoloration, depending on the color of the discoloration.  If it is only slightly discolored, score it as Damage, if it is dark, as shown above, then the plums would be scored as Serious Damage.

What’s the difference, it is still a defect right?  Yes, no matter how dark the internal discoloration appears it is always a defect.  But you are allowed 12% of the plums, with damage by internal discoloration, and only half that amount, or 6% of the plums with serious damage by internal discoloration.

Have you wondered why seedless watermelons have seeds?  And if the watermelons with seeds are defects? 

Well, the white seeds you occasionally find in seedless watermelons are not actually mature seeds.  They are white seed coats, where a seed never did mature.  It is safe to eat these seeds, as these seeds will never grow into watermelons.  So that’s simple;  if you come across the white, immature seeds, while inspecting seedless watermelons that’s OK, they are not considered a defect. 

But what do you do if you find some mature, dark brown seeds, in a seedless watermelon?

As seen above, you can see this slice is exposing 2 mature seeds.  The USDA Inspection Instructions do have specific guidelines as to how many mature seeds are allowed in the U.S. No.1 Grade.  If you suspect you may have a problem, follow theses inspection procedures:

Because there are no external indications of whether a melon may contain mature seeds, you would have to randomly cut the watermelons. 

When encountering seeded melons in a seedless lot report as a quality factor as “Seeded melons.”  Inspectors are required to cut as many melons as necessary in order to truly determine the internal quality.  Melons shall be cut in four equal sections (one lengthwise cut and one crosswise cut) as shown above.  Count the exposed seeds on the faces (vertical and horizontal) of all “quarters.”   If you find more than 10 mature seeds on the faces of the cut melon, that watermelon would be considered a defect.  Defect percentages MUST be based on the total melons in each sample (20) and not the number of melons cut.

The U.S. Grade Standards for Watermelons allow up to 10% may have quality defects.  If you find more than 10% of the seedless watermelons have more than 10 mature seeds on the exposed faces of the vertical and horizontal quarters, then the lot of watermelons would fail to grade U.S. No.1.

For the most part inspecting sweet peppers is fairly simple.  There are a few common defects you will notice, but you should always be on the look out for decayed peppers.  When you are inspecting the peppers, and you come across one that has decay, you must determine and note if the decay is affecting the stem of the pepper, or if the decay is affecting the wall or calyx of the pepper.

If you find decay affecting either the calyx or the walls (the pepper itself), you are allowed only 2% of the peppers with this type of decay….any more than 2% and the lot of peppers will fail to grade U.S. No. 1.  If you find decay on the stem of the pepper, you are allowed a greater tolerance.  The USDA Grade Standard allows up to 5% of the peppers with decay affecting the stems…..if you find more than 5% of the peppers with decayed stems, the lot would fail to grade U.S. No. 1.

If you find decay affecting the stem and the calyx of any one pepper you most score the pepper against the more restricted tolerance.  You would score the pepper once, as decay affecting the walls and calyx.

Many new inspectors become confused when seeing discolored stems and decayed stems.  They are quick to score discolored stems as peppers with decayed stems.

Use caution when you encounter discolored stems.  You MUST rub the stem with your thumb and fingers and determine if any of the stem tissue rubs off, or disintegrates in your fingers.  Discolored stems will be dry, and no tissue will rub off.  On the other hand, a stem with decay (as shown in the image above) will be moist, usually discolored, and a small amount of tissue will rub off when touched.

You will almost always come across light brown to dark brown surface discoloration when inspecting apricots. The apricot’s skin is very tender and easily susceptible to discoloration resulting from what is commonly referred to as “roller damage.” Roller damage was the common culprit, as the fruit would be roughed up along the packing the lines, on the roller belts. The truth is, any type of abrasion, from picking the fruit, to unloading the fruit from the bins, to packing the fruit, or even the apricots rubbing up against each other may cause this type of discoloration.

The above image is very typical of the discoloration you may encounter.  At first glance you would either discard the fruit if you were packing it, or you would score the fruit as being damaged by discoloration if you were inspecting the fruit.  But checking the USDA Inspection Instructions, you would be allowed an area of of up to 10% of the surface with brown discoloration, being scoring the apricot as damage by brown surface discoloration.

To help you visualize what 10% is, take a look at the same image below:

You can actually see only half of the apricot, or 50% of the surface.  Half of that area is 25%, and another half is 12-1/2%.  I added a blue circle to show you what 10% of the area would represent.  As you can see, the discolored spots do not come close to the 10% surface area allowed by the USDA.

A couple of things not mentioned in the USDA Instructions; if the discolored area(s) are sunken, or if the discoloration is darker than brown.  You would allow for a less area if the areas are sunken, as shown above, and a less area of the discoloration if it is darker than brown in color.  Taking these factors into account, the above apricot would be scored as damage by brown to dark brown surface discoloration.

Were you wondering what the defect “Auxiliary Ears” is?  When inspecting sweet corn, either white, yellow, or bi-color corn, you may come across an ear of corn that has an extra ear attached. Many times these tag-alongs will not be fully developed ears, but will be smaller in size than the regular ears and the kernels will not be developed.

The USDA created a nice visual aid, clearly showing the different possibilities you may encounter, of two or more ears originating from the same shank.  What the USDA failed to explain was which one of these ears of corn would be a defect if you came across these in the course of your inspection.   Checking the USDA Inspection Instructions for Sweet Corn there are no scoring guidelines given……only stating the ear is scored as damage by an auxiliary ear when materially affecting  the appearance and would be considered as serious damage when multiple auxiliary ears seriously affect the appearance.  (Not much to go on.)

I think it is safe to say; using the above visual aid as a guide,

• the ear on the left (auxiliary ear enclosed in the husk) would not be a defect, 

• the middle ear would be scored as damage, 

• and the ear on the right (multiple auxiliary ears) would be scored as serious damage.

Let me hear from you, if you agree or disagree with this guideline.

You receive a load of cantaloups and notice a few of them have sunken spots or sunken areas scattered over the surface.

Don’t confuse these sunken areas with bruising, as bruising will show flattened areas, will be soft to the touch, and most likely will show a watersoaked/translucent appearance to the underlying flesh.  These sunken areas may be discolored (darker than surrounding skin color) and may or may not affect the underlying flesh.  Many times these sunken areas will show light mold growth.  What caused these sunken areas?  Most likely somewhere along the harvesting/packing chain these lopes were injured, from rubbing or scuffing, resulting in moisture loss of the damaged areas, thus the sunken areas.  The moisture loss will progress, so it is recommended to hold the cantaloups in a low temperature (36-41° F), high humidity environment to maintain quality. 

The USDA has no definitive scoring guideline for us to use, only stating if the sunken areas materially affect the appearance then the cantaloup is a defect.  The USDA instructions go on to state that one or two small spots would not materially affect the appearance.  Most inspectors will not be too generous with these sunken areas, as consumers will pass these cantaloups over, thinking they may be injured, or showing signs of age, with the dark discolored spots.  A scoring guideline to follow is: if the cantaloup has more than two sunken areas, or if the area, depth, and discoloration of one or more spots detracts from the appearance, score the cantaloup as a defect. 

Looking at the cantaloup pictured above, it is without a doubt a defect, and would be reported as damage by sunken discolored areas.  Will these spots progress?  Yes, the spots usually become larger, increase in size and number and will become darker in color.

There are a few defects you should be looking for on asparagus, but spreading tips is the most common you will find. The U.S. Grade Standards require that asparagus spears must be fairly compact. Spreading tips could be caused by over-maturity, as the spears were harvested just past their prime. The USDA classifies this defect as a condition defect, meaning the spears may have been harvested at the proper time, but as the asparagus is in storage the tips begin to spread.

The image above, courtesy of  U.C. Davis, shows a few spears with spreading.  You may occasionally find asparagus with spreading of this degree, as the spears pictured here would all be scored as serious damage.  The U.S. Grade Standards allow 10% of the spears to be damaged, including 5% with serious damage defects.

The USDA does supply some visual aids, unfortunately none of the images are in color, but you can still see the amount spreading that is allowed.  The image above is showing all the three spears being damaged by spreading.  Although the tips are only slightly spread, you can see the tips are beginning to flower, or go to seed.

Have you ever noticed these small, circular red spots on nectarines, peaches or apples?  The defect is called “Scale” or “San Jose Scale” and is caused by an insect.

When you come across this defect, you do not see the insect, but the effects caused by its feeding.  The scale insect leaves this very distinguishable red ring,  from feeding.

Scale refers to a very large superfamily of insects called Coccoidea. According to the ScaleNet website there are 28 families of scales comprised of 7,355 species.  Most scale insects are female. Mature females are wingless and often secrete a hard shell-like covering for protection. The males are rare, small, non-feeding, and short-lived but look more like other insects as they have wings.   The adult female is yellow (as shown in the image above) and is about the size of a pinhead.  It lives under a protective cover that form over it as it grows.  The adult scale is stationary most of it life.  Only the newly born nymphs, called crawlers, move about on the tree.  The crawlers are yellow and are born alive.

The image above depicts a closeup of the adult female, with its protective covering or shell.  The fruit may become infected with the scale because female San Jose scales give birth to living young that emerge from under the edge of the scale covering. These tiny yellow crawlers wander in a random fashion until they find a suitable place to settle. Immediately upon settling, the crawlers insert their mouthparts into the host plant/fuirt and begin feeding and secreting a white waxy material (white cap stage); eventually the waxy covering turns black and is known as the black cap stage. Later the covers turn various shades from gray to black.

So, from an inspection standpoint, is this a defect?  Yes, whether you come across the scale still attached to the fruit, which you rarely see, or the red rings from the scale’s feeding, it is still a defect.  For nectarines, the fruit is considered to be damage if you find more than 3 scale marks on the nectarine, or the aggregate area of the marks is greater than 1/4 inch.  Since these spots due not grow, or change in color, they are considered a quality defect.  The U.S. Grade Standards for Nectarines allow 8% quality defects, for the U.S. No. 1 Grade.

When inspecting Table Grapes there are quite a few defects you should be on the look out for.  The most serious defects are decay and split berries.  Scarred berries and bunches weighing less than a quarter of a pound are very commonly found.  But there are a few others; some commonly found and some you may be surprised to hear are even considered a defect.  Take a look at the picture below.  There are three different defects visible.  See if you can identify them.

Were you able to pick them out?  See the enlarged image below to see if you found them all.

Grape number 1 was the easiest to identify.  It is call shattering, as the grapes must be firmly attached to the capstems to be considered a U.S. No. 1 Grape.  Grape number 4 may have been difficult to detect in the original picture, but you can definitely see juice on the berry.  Whenever juice is on a leaking berry or on a sound berry it is a defect.  The defect is called “wet and sticky berries” and is considered a serious damage defect.

Grapes number 2 and 3 are the most controversial.  You may have seen this time and again in previous loads of grapes, but you never noticed the USDA Inspectors scoring these grapes as defects.  You may have overlooked them yourself.  What makes this defect confusing is the fact the U.S. Grade Standards for Table Grapes require the berries being firmly attached to the capstems. 

• Some people say “They are attached, they are not loose or shattered grapes, so they are not a defect.” 
• Others will argue, “The standard says they must be firmly attached to the capstems, and you can clearly see the grapes are weak and are about to fall off.  Therefore, even though they are attached, they are not firmly attached…….score them as a defect!”

Who’s right and who’s wrong?  The USDA has done a poor job ensuring uniformity among their inspectors.  Their Inspection Instructions do little to address this defect, thus the confusion.  I have noticed the scoring or not scoring of this defect varies not by inspector but by office.  Personally, I began my USDA career in Philadelphia.  We inspected literally millions of lugs of grapes from Chile.  We were trained on grape inspection by the USDA experts from Washington, DC and from California.  During my time in Philly we never scored “weak at the capstems” as a defect.  Our office consisted of about 15 inspectors at the time and we all were uniform in our inspections.

It wasn’t until I traveled to Hunts Point (Bronx, NY) to help out and I was inspecting a load of grapes on the market that I found out about this disparity.  When I completed my inspection and reported my results to the applicant he asked me “What about all the weak at the capstems?”  I was taken back, thinking to myself, “What is he talking about?  Which ones were weak at the capstems?”  Speaking with other inspectors from that office I discovered they see and score that defect all the time.  And their inspection certificates backed up their statement.  So again,  who was right and who was wrong?  Maybe we we wrong in Philadelphia to ignore this defect, or maybe those in Hunts Point went overboard.

Unfortunately there is no uniform guideline or policy on the scoring of berries being weak at the capstems.  My suggestion is to use common sense.  If the berries are dangling from the stem, and there are numerous berries that would detract from its appearance, then by all means score them as a defect.  But if you have to hunt and search to find a berry here and there as being weak at the capstem then ignore it, as it probably will does not detract from the appearance of the bunch.

When inspecting kiwifruit you will usually only encounter a few defects.  Some of the common defects you may find are:  shriveling, bruising, soft and decay.  If the kiwi has been in storage you may also come across kiwi which has sunken areas or pitted areas.  This is due to moisture loss of the fruit.

You can see the sunken area occurring on the circled area above.  Is this enough area, to be scored as a defect?  The U.S. Grade Standards for Kiwi don’t offer any specific scoring guidelines for sunken areas, only stating the sunken area may not materially affect the appearance of the fruit.  The USDA Inspection Instructions do offer some guidelines.   If the sunken area exceeds an area of 1/2 inch on a two inch kiwi, then the kiwi is considered a defect, and would be scored as damage.  Looking at the image above, the sunken area appears to exceed the area allowed (1/2 inch) so it would be set aside and scored as a defect.

You could have 12% of the kiwifruit with damage by sunken areas, and still make the requirements of the U.S. No. 1 Grade.