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.