Before this past month the fresh produce industry has been following the U.S. Grade Standards for Cucumbers that were created in 1958. Its time has come to update this grade standard to reflect the current practices used by cucumber growers and shippers. The USDA updated the grade standard, which can be found here. If you buy, sell, or inspect […]
Category Archives: Grade Standards-Updates
Cucumbers- 2016 Grade Standard
Okra- Inspection Procedures
Chances are you won’t be finding too many problems when you receive Okra into your warehouse. But every now and then you will find some shriveled okra, discolored okra, decayed okra, or you may encounter a temperature issue and the okra is showing signs of yellowing. In future posts I will cover some of the specific […]
Application of Tolerances
If you look through a U.S. Standard, for just about any commodity, you will find it includes the applicable U.S. Grades, defect tolerances, defect scoring guidelines and application of tolerances. For example, let’s look at the U.S. Standard for Cucumbers. If you look at Section: §51.2228 Application of tolerances. (a) The contents of individual packages […]
Potatoes- Confusion with Tolerances
The most important factor when completing an inspection is making the determination if the lot is in grade or out of grade. Practically all the U.S. Grade Standards are fairly easy to comprehend. They will usually have wording such as: 10% total defects, including 5% serious damage, including 1% decay. Some examples: 12% damage by […]
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Peaches- Color Requirements
You may be receiving some bulk peaches, and the color does not appear to be as uniform as the place packs from Chile or California. You may be wondering if the peaches can be rejected based on color. As you can see from above, some of the peaches have full color, while others have the […]
Strawberries- Wet From Leaking Juice
This may be new to you. It is new to everyone. The USDA has decided to score strawberries being wet from leaking juice as a serious damage defect. I assume the US Grade Standards for Strawberries has been around since the Raspberry Standard, which has a date of 1931. Up until this year, this defect was pretty much […]
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Potato Standard Revision- Again
Maybe the USDA will get it right this time. They struggled with making revisions to the US Grade Standards for Potatoes back in 2008, issuing changes in April and once again in November. This time around they are attempting to clean up their mistakes, and for the most part they seem to have it right. […]
Mushrooms- Inspection Procedures
You may not be aware, but there are USDA inspection procedures for mushrooms. Personally, I have performed a few official USDA inspections on mushrooms. The USDA has issued a U.S. Grade Standard for Mushrooms, unfortunately it hasn’t been updated since 1966. The grade standard was established for the inspection of white mushrooms, although the brown […]
Spinach- Sampling Procedures
Inspecting spinach leaves, or spinach plants is a fairly easy, but a time consuming inspection. First off, there is a U.S. Grade Standard for Spinach Leaves, and there is a U.S. Grade Standard for Spinach Plants, with subtle differences. If you were to follow the grade standards, when inspecting spinach leaves your sample size would be […]
Florida Citrus- Discoloration
“You can’t score defects on Florida Citrus!” I am sure everyone has heard this at one time or another. Is it true? Can you never score defects on Florida Citrus? Not really. Whether you are inspecting Oranges and Tangelos, Grapefruit or Tangerines from Florida, they will not be as clean in appearance as citrus from […]