International Produce Training

You may receive peaches  packed in cells, or a place pack, or they may be volume filled, or a jumble pack.  Either way, you must still be on the lookout for peaches with soft, bruised spots, or peaches that exhibit surface discoloration.  Surface discoloration may take on different looks, ranging from small rubs to extremely black discolored areas.

Hopefully you will never encounter peaches with black discoloration, as shown above.  This occurred when the peach was being packed, as the conveyor belt continued to roll while the peach was sitting still.  The discoloration would not have been seen at the time of packing, but within a few days the discoloration would be very obvious.

This type of discoloration on peaches is much more common.  The exact cause is unknown, but somewhere along the packing/shipping process the peaches were subjected to rubbing or movement within the container that produced the discoloration.  Remember, the discoloration is caused when the surface of the peach is damaged, resulting in oxidation, or a discoloring to the cells.  Rough handling when harvested, packed or shipped could have caused the discoloration.  Because of this, you may find the surface discoloration isolated to the back 2-4 pallets of the trailer; or it may be found only in the top 3 layers of pallets.  If the discoloration occurred prior to packing then the affected peaches would exhibit no pattern, but would be scattered throughout the pack and load.

Fortunately, the USDA does have specific scoring guidelines to use, if you find surface discoloration.   The area allowed is associated with the darkness of the discoloration.  The USDA allows a greater area for lighter discoloration versus darker discoloration, but not that much more.  Shown below is the scoring guideline for surface discoloration developed by the USDA:

Using the guideline, the black discolored area shown in the top image would exceed the area allowed (1/2″), and would be scored as a defect.

In the second image, all three peaches exceed the area allowed for medium brown discoloration (3/4″), and would be scored as a defect.

And remember, you would be allowed 14% defects in peaches, with not more than 7% defects being serious damage.

Take a look at the image below.  As fall approaches this scene is repeated over and over.  Winter squash are displayed in groups, with their fall colors of dark greens, oranges and yellows being highlighted.

They look great together, don’t they?  But in the eyes of the USDA one of these is actually a defect, and should be placed in the cull bin.  Surprisingly the USDA instructs their inspectors to score yellow discoloration on acorn squash as a defect.  This is just one of many defects the recent management within the USDA has decided to create, with little or no input from the produce industry.

As you can see from above, the acorn squash coming into a packing house, from the fields, the acorn squash typically shows the orange color, offering a nice compliment to pumpkins in the fall season.

 What is really amazing, is the USDA itself believes that yellow to orange color is characteristic of acorn squash.  In the image above is the USDA’s own visual aid, created  to assist their inspectors in identifying what a zucchini squash, banana squash and acorn squash look like.  I don’t know if I am more worried about the state of the inspection service if a visual aid is needed to show inspectors what each squash looks like or by the fact the acorn squash, used to identify what an acorn squash looks like, has a yellow to orange spot on the side.

But, the USDA has indeed set up scoring guidelines to use, to determine if the yellow to orange color materially detracts from the appearance of the squash and is a defect.  Their instructions state; “When bright yellow to orange color, exclusive of the ground spot, affects more than 10% of the surface score as damage.”  And even though the yellow to orange color is actually seen while the acorn squash is growing, the USDA has decided to classify this defect as a condition defect, implying the yellow to orange color will progress.  If the acorn squash is designated as being “Golden Acorn” or “Yellow Acorn” then the yellow color would be ignored.

To give you an idea of how much yellow to orange  color would be allowed, the image above shows you a circle depicting approximately 10% of the surface on that particular acorn squash.  If the yellow or orange color exceeds the area shown, then the acorn squash would be scored as a defect.  And you can see, the orange color in the above image does exceed the area allowed by the USDA, thus this squash would be scored as “damage by yellow discoloration.”

A few of you may have encountered some strange circles affecting the rinds of watermelons.  The circles may vary in size and the area affected, but they still usually materially affect the appearance.

This defect is caused by a virus, named the papaya ring spot virus.  These images show the classic symptoms of the virus;  the typical circular patterns.  The virus causes many problems with watermelons grown in Florida, affecting the plants. leaves and the fruit itself.  The virus is transmitted by aphids, as they feed on an infected plant and move to healthy plants.

If you do encounter this defect, rest assured the defect will not progress.  The circular patterns will not become more in number, nor will they spread to perectly good watermelons.  The USDA does not have any specific scoring guidelines, so you would use judegement to determine if the defect materially affects (damage) or seriously detracts from the apprearance (serious damage) of the melon.  If you come across watermelons pictured above, they would be scored as serious damage.  The US Grade Standards for the US no. 1 Grade allow for 10% defects including 5% serious damage.

With the hot humid weather stretching across the United States one defect to keep your eye out for, when inspecting onions, is Black Mold.  You will find this defect on all types of onions, northern grown onions, Texas onions, yellow onions, red onions, jumbo onions or pre-pack onions.

The USDA Inspection Instructions state:  The indication of this disease is the presence of black, powdery spore masses of the fungus between the outer fleshy scale and the adjacent papery scale or between the layers of papery scales. The spore masses are usually heaviest around the neck of the onion and have a tendency to follow the veins down the sides. On onions with thin or light papery scales these spore masses are usually visible through the scales. Onions that have black mold between the scales are very susceptible to Black Mold Rot.

The point worth noting from the USDA…..the scales affected by Black Mold are very susceptible to Black Mold Rot.  Black Mold Rot is a decay, that can be detected by swiping your finger over the Black Mold and if the tissue disintegrates, the Black Mold has now progressed into Black Mold Rot, which will progress, spread on the onion and spread onto adjacent sound onions.

If you encounter Black Mold, the US No. 1 Grade allows up to 3/4 inch area on a 3 inch onion.  Any amount more than what is allowed is scored as a defect, damage by Black Mold.  If you were inspecting northern grown onions the standard allows 5% defects.  If the onions were southern onions (BGG type) the standard allows 10% defects.  But if the Black Mold has progressed into Black Mold Rot (decay) each standards only allows 2%.  And any amount of decay, or Black Mold Rot would be scoreable, as decay is a free from defect.

Looking at the above image the black old appears to be dry.  It exceeds an area of 1-1/4 inch, more than the area allowed for serious damage.  This onion would be scored and reported as, “serious damage by black mold occurring between the outer scales.”

When inspecting apricots there are a few defects you should always keep an eye out for.  Bruising, surface discoloration, soft and decay are the most common defects, along with sunken discolored areas.

Sunken discolored areas can be caused a few ways, but it always is due to some kind of injury to apricot, where upon the moisture is lost and the surface of apricot sinks, or becomes depressed.  The defect will become worse, as it may sink deeper in depth, become darker in color and the affected area may increase in size.  This defect is to be classified as a “condition defect.”

The USDA has not issued any scoring guidelines for sunken discolored areas affecting apricots.  They leave it up to the judegement of their inspectors to determine if the defect is a scorable.  Because the defect closely resembles bruising, it would be safe to use the brusing scoring guideline.

Score the apricot as being damage (a defect) if the sunken discolored area exceeds an area of 3/8 inch, or exceeds 1/8 inch in depth.  Score the sunken discolored as serious damage if the area exceeds 5/8 inch or exceeds 3/16 inch in depth. 

Looking at the image above the apricot would be scored as serious damage based upon this scoring guideline.

Inspecting watermelons can be challenging, especially when you encounter a load of watermelons with maturity problems, or pink to light red color.  There are  a few external indicators to look for to determine if a watermelon is mature.  You would want to see a creamy or yellow color on the ground side of the melon; a filled out appearance in regard to the circumference; rind color breaking from a pea green at the blossom end to a natural darker green color.  But the bottom line, you have to cut the watermelon to determine if it is a defect.

Looking at the image above, let’s say you cut the first melon and it doesn’t look too bad….a little light red.  Then you cut your second melon and you notice a much deeper red color.  Is the first melon a defect?  This common occurrence happens all the time.  Remember not judge one melon against another, but you have to follow the defect scoring guidelines to determine if the lighter red colored melon is a defect.

Using the USDA scoring guidelines, a U.S. No. 1 Watermelon has to be mature.  Mature means the watermelon has reached the stage of development at which the flesh is at least fairly sweet and shows characteristic color of a mature watermelon for the variety.

For red-flesh varieties the USDA has developed a visual aid, a guide to use when determining if a watermelon is mature:

For a watermelon to meet the requirements of a U.S. No. 1 (or a U.S. No. 2) they must meet the minimum color requirement as shown above.  If the watermelon is lighter in color than allowed it will be scored as being immature, a serious damage defect.  How many watermelons are allowed to be immature and still meet the requirements of the U.S. No. 1 Grade?  Only 5% are allowed.   The standard sample size is 20 melons, meaning you are allowed 1 melon in every sample to be immature.

Because asparagus is a highly perishable commodity, the freshly harvested spears are either cooled quickly using a hydro-cooler, or through forced air cooling.

From the hydro-cooling process it is very possible the tips of the spears may appear wet, or even exude water when squeezed.  Although this may lead to an increased chance of decay, the mere fact the tips are wet was never considered a defect.  For the tips to be considered a defect, they had to be noticeably watersoaked or translucent, or they must be slimy, due to decay.

That policy has now changed.  The management of the USDA’s Fresh Products Inspection Branch has recently sent new inspection instructions to all their fresh fruit and vegetable inspectors directing them to score asparagus with wet tips as a defect.  This new defect will greatly affect all future asparaus inspections, as wet tips are very common, due to the cooling process.  The industry has accepted this cooling practice for years, and the wet tips usually dry up in storage, never causing any problems.  I’ve never encountered anyone from the wholesale side of industry complaining of their asparagus having wet tips.  On the contrary….asparagus is prone to shriveling and moisture pads are used in the bottom of asparagus crates and cartons to provide moisture to the spear.  As long as asparagus is kept at the proper
temperature (32 to 36°F), the moisture is a non factor.  Apparently the USDA disagrees.  

With the tip being darker in color, as shown by the spear on the right, from being wet,  is now to considered a defect.  If the wet tip exceeds an area of 1/4 inch, it is to be scored as damage….if the the wet area exceeds an area of 1/2 inch, it is to be scored as serious damage.  Seriously.

Will the wet/watery tips lead to decay?  Maybe…..but if they dry out in storage, they may be just fine. 

What is next on the USDA agenda?  Will they consider wet areas on a cantaloup a defect, wet spots due to pack ice on broccoli?  Apparently they are marching to their own agenda, and growers/shippers are not on their agenda.  If you would like voice your concern with this recent decision, please contact 202-720-2011, to contact the Assistant Chief of the Fresh Products Branch, or by email: cheri.courtney@usda.gov

I will do my best to wade through the USDA terminology to make this as easy to understand as possible.  When you are inspecting strawberries you will be keeping an eye out for bruising and decay, but one of the other common defects you may encounter will be misshapen strawberries.  If you are looking for guidance the USDA inspection instructions state:  

“Well developed” is a requirement of the U.S. No. 1 grade for “other berries” (raspberries, dewberries, and blackberries), “not undeveloped” is the requirement for the U.S. No. 1 grade for strawberries. Berries that are misshapen or have not attained a normal shape and development due to Anthracnose injury, frost injury, lack of pollination, insect injury, or other causes shall not meet the requirements of well developed (other berries) or not undeveloped (strawberries) as required in the standards.

If you still use the USDA to perform some inspections, the inspection certificate may not report the term “misshapen” as a defect.  Some USDA inspectors may refer to misshapen strawberries as being “poorly developed” or “not well developed.”  As you can see from the inspection instructions above, the USDA never uses the term misshapen.  But feel free to use the term “misshapen” on your own inspection reports as everyone in the industry will recognize that terminology.

Misshapen strawberries are a quality defect, meaning the misshapen will not become worse, or “more misshapen.”  They do affect the marketability of the strawberries, as consumers are looking for fresh, bright strawberries, uniform in shape and size.

As a guideline, the USDA has created this official visual aid.

The two, highlighted rows depict strawberries that are misshapen, and would be scored as defects against the U.S. No.1 Grade.  Looking at the strawberries on the top row you can clearly see there is some generous leeway regarding misshapen, or poorly developed strawberries.  All the strawberries in the top row would meet the requirements of the U.S. No.1 Grade.

The U.S. No. 1 Grade Standard allows for a total of 10% defects.   If you dump our your clamshell and count out 2o strawberries…..you would be allowed 2 strawberries with defects.  For example, if you counted out 20 strawberries in your sample and you found
2 strawberries with bruising, and 2 strawberries being misshapen, you would have a total of 4 defective strawberries out of a 20 count sample.  4/20= 20%.  Since you are only allowed a tolerance of 10% defects, your sample would be out of grade.

There is a reason grower use a paper wrap while packing eggplant.  The skin on eggplant is very sensitive, easily bruised, nicked and scuffed.  The paper acts to protect the surface of the eggplant from damage.

When you inspect eggplant you should be careful when removing the paper and be sure to re-wrap the eggplant when you finish.  You may find scars, which were present when the eggplant were packed, that occurred during the growing season.  But what you should look for are condition defects, that progress and become worse.  Some common defects you are likely to find are sunken pitted areas, brown to dark brown surface discoloration, shriveling and bruising.

Bruising may be found, but be careful the bruising is actually bruising and not just flattened areas on the eggplant as a result of on eggplant being packed up against another eggplant.  A bruised area will be soft to the touch and in some extreme cases actually show discoloration affecting the flesh.

Taking a look at the image above, you can see three condition defects.  The highlighted areas depict bruising, but you can also see some slight discoloration, from the eggplant being rubbed or scuffed during the packing or shipping process, and if you look closely you may see some sunken pitted areas.

The USDA Inspection Instructions state, bruising will be scored as a defect if the bruising exceeds an area of 1 inch in diameter.  To give you an easy guide, a quarter is approximately 1 inch in diameter.  You are not required to cut the eggplant to determine if bruising is a defect, but the area must exceed 1 inch in diameter.

The U.S. Grade Standards allow a 10% tolerance for defects.  Base your percentages on the number of eggplant in the carton.  For example;
1 bruised eggplant in a carton of 15 eggplants = 7% 

We will cover the other common defects in future posts.

Whether you are inspecting northern grown onions, or Bermuda Granex-Grano (BGG) onions grown in the South, you should always be careful to determine if decay is affecting the necks of the onions.  The decay affecting the necks is usually found in onions that have been in storage, but weather conditions, rainy, wet weather, can increase the odds of finding it.

As seen above, many times the onions will exhibit no external signs of having decay affecting the necks.  An experienced inspector will be able to squeeze slightly on the neck and determine if the onion “might” be affected by decay.  But in all cases, you must cut the neck to determine if the onion does have decay.   The decay that is responsible, is called Gray Mold Rot (Botrytis fungus).   Click here for more information regarding Gray Mold Rot.

Since the U.S. Grade Standards only allow a tolerance of 2% for decay, careful inspection and cutting is essential while inspecting onions.

When inspecting onions you will want to randomly cut at least 5 onions.  Begin by cutting the neck, looking for decay, and then follow up by always cut the onion in half (making a crosswise cut) to look for internal defects or decay.

I have seen many new inspectors pull out their knives and cut the heck out of onions, almost desperately searching for decay affecting the necks.  Most of the time they do not cut the onion properly.  There is right and wrong way to cut the onion.  As shown above, using a sharp knife, make a cut as close to the bulb as possible, and make subsequent cuts deeper into the onion if you see some possible decay.  Remember, always cut the necks of some onions, but if you do not find any problems, put your knife away.