WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is publishing a revision to the U.S. Standards for Grades of Potatoes.
The standards have been revised by amending the similar varietal characteristic requirement to allow mixed colors and/or types of potatoes when designated as a mixed or specialty pack. Additionally, AMS added restrictive tolerances for permanent defects in the en route/at destination tolerances, removed the definition for injury, and clarified the scoring guide for sprouts. The revised standards also add table numbers to the definitions of damage, serious damage, and external defects; amend table headings; replace omitted language in the definition for bruises; and amend language in the tolerance section to ensure soft rot tolerances are applied correctly.
AMS works with industry representatives and others to establish or revise U.S. standards for nearly 240 agricultural products. Industry uses the standards in the marketplace to specify the quality of commodities. Standards facilitate commerce by providing a common language for trade and a means of measuring value in the marketing of agricultural products.
The notice will be published in the June 2, 2011, Federal Register. More information is available from Dr. Carl Newell, AMS Fruit & Vegetable Programs, USDA, National Training and Development Center, Riverside Business Park, 100 Riverside Parkway, Suite 101, Fredericksburg, VA 22406. Comments may also be submitted to www.regulations.gov.
Copies of the standards can also be accessed from the following Internet address: www.ams.usda.gov/freshinspection.
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Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
