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 […]
Whether you are inspecting nectarines from Chile, California, or the East Coast, you may run into some varying degrees of surface discoloration. Somewhere along the chain, the nectarines were subject to some rough handling, that injured the cells of the skin, leading to oxidation, or discoloring of the skin. This surface discoloration may appear light […]
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 […]
Of all the inspection procedures I have discussed on this site, determining the percentage of undersize berries may be one of the most time consuming, and confusing procedures. First off, there are two size requirements you must be aware of. The bunches have to meet a minimum size, having to weigh at least 1/4 pound, to […]
Continue reading about Table Grapes- Determining Undersize Berries »
A common defect you can expect to find, when inspecting avocados is surface discoloration. Discoloration can have many different looks, such as discoloration caused from russeting, from sunburn, or from unexplained transit or physiological conditions. As seen above, this is typically how you will see discoloration on your avocados. It will range from a dark brown […]
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 […]
Scars on honeydews…..are they defects? We are talking about scars, that occur while the honeydew is growing. The scars do not progress, or become worse. As you can see from the above image, I would score two honeydews as defects, damage by scars. I decided to research the USDA inspection instructions for some guidance. […]
Continue reading about Honeydews- Netting/Scars/Surface Cracks »
With the Chilean fruit hitting your warehouses, always be on the lookout for freezing injury. Sometimes in Table Grapes it is difficult to detect, especially if the freezing injury is only slight, or only located in a few pallets. Remember, the grapes arriving from Chile are transported by ship, being on the water for 10 or more […]
You can follow all the defect scoring guidelines established by the USDA, but if you do not follow the basic sampling procedures your inspections would be a waste of time. Proper sampling techniques should not be overlooked. Sampling properly will ensure you are recording the percentage of defects in an accurate manner. Upon receiving a […]
One of the more difficult defects to detect on cantaloups is fusarium decay. Many inspectors do come across this defect, but are not aware it is actually decay. When I point this out during a training class, I always hear, “Oh, I’ve seen this before, but didn’t know what it was.” From this official USDA visual aid, […]