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; […]
Category Archives: Defect Identification
Watermelons- Ring Spot Virus
Onions- Black Mold
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 […]
Apricots- Sunken Discolored Areas
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 […]
Watermelons- Red Color
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 […]
Asparagus- Wet Tips; Now a Defect
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 […]
Strawberries- Misshapen
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 […]
Eggplant- Bruising
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 […]
Onions- Decay
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 […]
Cucumbers- Shriveled Ends
With a shortage of cucumbers due to the weather conditions, you have probably noticed a difference in the quality of cucumbers at your warehouse. You may have noticed a few more scars, and misshapen cucumbers. Although these defects do detract from the appearance of the cucumbers, cucumbers that are scarred or misshapen will not become worse…..meaning the […]
Apricots- Skin Breaks
With shipments of stone fruit coming to an end from Chile, and getting ready to start up from California, now may be a good time to mention a commonly found defect of apricots, but many times overlooked. As with all stone fruit, skin breaks can be a serious defect. But with apricots, because the fruit […]