With the Chilean sweet cherries hitting the market, remember to look for a few common defects, such as bruising, pitting and soft cherries. Pitting is the most common condition defect you may see. The surface pitting found on sweet cherries is caused by a breakdown of cells in the flesh directly beneath the skin. This results […]
Category Archives: Defect Identification
Sweet Cherries-Pitting
Celery- Mosaic Virus
Have you seen this defect? In recent contact with the Cornell University Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic, they said, “Without testing, it is not a conclusive diagnosis, but we have seen similar sunken lesions on celery infected with Cucumber Mosaic Virus. ” I appreciate their opinion, with only having a picture to look at, it is impossible to be 100% certain. […]
Broccoli-Yellowing
We have all seen the yellow and discolored bud clusters that occur on broccoli. Unfortunately there are no real scoring guidelines, to determine how much is allowed before the discoloration is scored as a defect. The USDA has recently published (November 2008) a revised inspection instruction handbook for broccoli, but the instructions fail to address the […]
Potatoes- Ingrown Sprouts
Ingrown or Internal sprouts on potatoes are a defect when a potato begins to sprout, but the sprout grows into the flesh potato instead of growing outward. I have only seen this a few times over my career as an inspector, but I have never seen this severe enough to score as a defect. This defect is to be scored as an internal […]
Limes-Yellowing/Blanching
Do you know the difference between what is scored as Yellowing and what is scored as Blanching? Yellowing (#1) is due to age, and is scored as a defect when the yellow color is plainly visible. In other words, whenever you see any amount of yellow color, the lime is scored against the (5%) tolerance for serious damage. Blanching […]
Peaches-Internal Discoloration
A question was submitted asking about the cause of internal browning or discoloration of peaches. From my experience, the internal discoloration that sometimes occurs in peaches is due to chilling damage. But what is unique with peaches, the chilling injury develops at warmer than expected temperatures. Peaches should be stored between 30 and 35 degrees, but […]
Broccoli-Florets Discoloration
Broccoli florets (and crowns) are covered under the U.S. Grade Standards for Broccoli. A blogger sent in these pictures and was interested in everyone’s comments. Would the discoloration affecting the cut stems be a defect? There is no definite mention of this in the grade standard, only the general definition of damage, “materially detracts from the appearance, or the […]
Apples- Bitter Pit
With Bitter Pit being a virtual free-from defect, there has been some confusion over the years when it comes to correctly identifying this defect. Does anyone have some good guidance or some pictures I can post on this site, to help everyone identify Bitter Pit? Thanks.
Tomatoes- Abnormal Coloring
Have you been confused when you have found tomatoes looking like these two? Abnormal Coloring on tomatoes is a very subjective defect, which has driven inspectors crazy for years. Is it Abnormal Coloring (ABC) or are the tomatoes just starting to break color, from green to red? Will they ripen up with no problems? Why […]
Silvery White- Sweet Peppers
Have you seen the silvery white discoloration usually found on red or green peppers? Do you think it should be scored as a defect? Or is the discoloration only slight and not really an issue? The USDA scores the defect if the area affected is greater than 10% of the surface. Too easy? Too hard? Let me hear […]