§ 52.2325 - Definitions of terms.

(a) Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) means the maximum percent of defective units or the maximum number of defects per hundred units of product that, for the purpose of acceptance sampling, can be considered satisfactory as a process average.

(b) Blemish—(1) Minor blemish means any unit which is affected by scars, pathological injury, insect injury or other means in which the aggregate area affected exceeds the area of a circle 3 mm (0.125 in) in diameter or the appearance or eating quality of the unit is slightly affected.

(2) Major blemish means any unit which is affected or damaged by discoloration or any other means to the extent that the appearance or eating quality of the unit is more than slightly affected.

(3) Total blemish means the total of the major and minor blemishes.

(c) Brightness means the extent that the overall appearance of the sample unit as a mass is affected by dullness. (Applies to regular process only).

(1) Grade A: Not affected.

(2) Grade B: Slightly affected.

(3) Grade C: Materially affected.

(4) Substandard: Seriously affected.

(d) Character—(1) Round type—Green Beans—(i) Good character means the pods are full fleshed; after cooking, the pods are tender and the seeds are not mealy.

(ii) Reasonably good character means the pods are reasonably fleshy; after cooking, the pods are tender and the seeds are not mealy.

(iii) Fairly good character means the pods have not entirely lost their fleshy structure; after cooking, the pods are fairly tender and the seeds may be slightly mealy.

(iv) Poor character means the beans fail the requirements for fairly good character.

(2) Round type—Wax Beans—(i) Good character means the pods are full fleshed and may show slight breakdown of the flesh between seed cavities; after cooking, the pods are tender and the seeds are not mealy.

(ii) Reasonably good character means the pods are reasonably fleshy and may show substantial breakdown of the flesh between the seed cavities; after cooking, the pods are tender and the seeds are not mealy.

(iii) Fairly good character means the pods may show total breakdown of the flesh between the seed cavities with no definite seed pocket, but still retain flesh on the inside pod wall; after cooking, the pods are fairly tender and the seeds may be slightly mealy.

(iv) Poor character means the beans fail the requirements for fairly good character.

(3) Romano or Italian type—(i) Good character means the pods have a full inner membrane, typical of the variety and are tender after cooking.

(ii) Reasonably good character means the pods have a reasonably well developed inner membrane and are reasonably tender after cooking.

(iii) Fairly good character means the pods may lack an inner membrane; and are fairly tender after cooking.

(iv) Poor character means the beans fail the requirements for fairly good character.

(e) Color defective means a unit that varies markedly from the color that is normally expected for the variety and grade.

(f) Defect means any nonconformance of a unit of product from a specified requirement of a single quality characteristic.

(g) Extraneous vegetable material (EVM) means harmless vegetable material (other than the bean pods) including, but not limited to, stalk, vine material, [vine material with stem(s) attached], leaves of the bean plant, and leaves or portions of other harmless plants.

(h) Fiber—(1) Edible fiber means fiber developed in the wall of the bean pod that, after cooking, is noticeable upon chewing, but can be consumed with the rest of the bean material without objection.

(2) Inedible fiber means fiber developed in the wall of the bean pod that, after cooking, is objectionable upon chewing and tends to separate from the rest of the bean material.

(i) Flavor and odor. Good flavor and odor means the product, after cooking, has a characteristic green bean or wax bean flavor and odor typical of the varietal type and is free from objectionable flavors and odors.

(j) Mechanical damage means a unit, in all styles except French, that is broken or split into two parts (equals 1 defect), is crushed, or is damaged by mechanical means to such an extent that the appearance is seriously affected; and for whole and cut styles has very ragged edges that are greater than 8 mm (5/16 in).

(k) Short piece means a unit in cut style, that is less than 13 mm (0.50 in) in length, and a unit in whole style that is less than 44 mm (1.75 in) in length, measured along the longest dimension parallel to the bean suture line.

(l) Single sample unit means the amount of product specified (500 grams for French style and 400 units for all other styles) to be used for unofficial inspection. It may be:

(1) The entire contents of a container;

(2) A portion of the contents of a container; or

(3) A combination of the contents of two or more containers.

(m) Sloughing means the separation of the outer surface layer of tissue from the pod.

(n) Small pieces and odd cuts, in French style only, mean pieces of pod less than 19 mm (0.75 in) in length or pieces of pod not conforming to the normal appearance of a sliced lengthwise bean unit.

(o) Stem means any part or portion (loose or attached) of the hard or tough fibrous material that attaches the bean pod to the vine.

(p) Tolerance means the percentage of defective units allowed for each quality factor for a specified sample size.

(q) Unit means a bean pod or any individual portion thereof.