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Code of Federal Regulations (Last Updated: May 6, 2024) |
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Title 7 - Agriculture |
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Subtitle B - Regulations of the Department of Agriculture |
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Chapter I - Agricultural Marketing Service (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), Department of Agriculture |
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SubChapter C - Requirements and Standards Under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 and the Egg Products Inspection Act |
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Part 51 - Fresh Fruits, Vegetables, and Other Products (Inspection, Certification, and Standards) |
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Subpart B - United States Standards for Grades of Apples |
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Tolerances |
§ 51.306 - Tolerances.
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§ 51.306 Tolerances.
In order to allow for variations incident to proper grading and handling in each of the grades in 51.300, 51.301, 51.302, 51.303, and 51.304 the following tolerances are provided as specified:
(a) Defects:
(1) U.S. Extra Fancy, U.S. Fancy, U.S. No. 1, and U.S. No. 1 Hail grades: 10 percent of the apples in any lot may fail to meet the requirements of the grade, but not more than one-half of this amount, or 5 percent, shall be allowed for apples which are seriously damaged, including therein not more than 1 percent for apples affected by decay or internal breakdown.
(2) U.S. Utility grade: 10 percent of the apples in any lot may fail to meet the requirements of the grade, but not more than one-half of this amount, or 5 percent, shall be allowed for apples which are seriously damaged by insects, and including in the total tolerance not more than 1 percent for apples affected by decay or internal breakdown.
(b) When applying the foregoing tolerances to Combination grades, no part of any tolerance shall be allowed to reduce, for the lot as a whole, the 50 percent of apples of the higher grade required in the combination, but individual containers shall have not less than 40 percent of the higher grade.
(c) Size: When size is designated by the numerical count for a container, not more than 10 percent of packages in the lot may fail to be fairly uniform.[1] When size is designated by minimum or maximum diameter, not more than 5 percent of the apples in any lot may be smaller than the designated minimum, and not more than 10 percent may be larger than the designated maximum. For Red Delicious or Golden Delicious varieties only, a combination of minimum diameter and/or weight may be used. When this designation is used, an individual apple will be considered to have met the minimum size requirement even if the apple is smaller than the minimum diameter, provided it is equal to or greater than the weight provided in table II of this section. However, not more than 5 percent of the apples in any lot may fail to meet either the minimum diameter or minimum weight when so designated. In addition, when Red Delicious or Golden Delicious apples are designated with diameter/weight combinations, they may only be designated according to the following table:
Table II
Red delicious Golden delicious 21⁄8 inches or 65 grams 63 grams 21⁄4 inches or 75 grams 70 grams 23⁄8 inches or 84 grams 82 grams 21⁄2 inches or 100 grams 95 grams 25⁄8 inches or 115 grams 109 grams 23⁄4 inches or 139 grams 134 grams