Conditions Of Successful Grading

Agricultural produce, particularly fruits and vegetables, form an important part of trade
both nationally and internationally. Among the post-harvest operations applied during the handling
of fruits and vegetables, grading plays an important role in removing undesirable or foreign
matters from the harvested crops into various fractions. Grading is sorting or categorization fruits
and vegetables into different grades according to the size, shape, color, and volume to fetching a
high price in the market. Besides grading, the other post-harvest operations, such as precooling
of produce to remove field heat, post-harvest treatments and packaging, etc. are also critical to
marketing success.
Produce brought in many markets often has variable characteristics, and sometimes it
may be delivered immature or contain shriveled, damaged, and rotten materials. Delivering such
produce generally results in lower prices. Thus, systematic grading is a pre-requisite for efficient
marketing of fruits and vegetables. The bruised, damaged, and misshapen produce should be
sorted out, and healthy fruits or vegetables should be graded according to their size, weight,
shape, color, maturity, etc. The fruits or vegetables can be graded in extra fancy, superior, and
standard grades or classes I, II, and III, respectively.
Advantages of successful grading

 The graded produce fetches a better price in the market.

 Grading helps to develop greater confidence between buyers and growers.
 Increase marketing efficiency by facilitating buying and selling products without
personal selection.
 Heavy marketing costs in packing and transportation can be avoided by grading.
 Increasing distributors’ profits.
 Increasing producers’ profits.
 Grading improves product uniformity within a particular grade and serves as the basis
for the price.

Methods of Grading
Grading of fruits and vegetables is generally done on the basis of physical characteristics
like weight, size, color, shape, specific gravity, and freedom from diseases. For fresh marketing,
the known methods of grading of fruits and vegetables are manual grading or machine grading.
In both methods, the product is graded on the basis of size. However, electronic grading systems
are gaining impetus in the horticultural sector and have been used successfully in pilot-scale
studies. The grading process is fully mechanized but in India, it is still done manually. Basic
process behind mechanical grading consists of a conveyor belt with a bag at the end wherein
smaller produce fall through the chain, making the grading process less extensive. Fruits and
vegetables are generally graded on the basis of state, federal, and international standards. Every
country has set its own standards of different grades as per the market requirements. However,
for the international market three general grades are considered as Extra class, Class I and Class
II.
 Extra Class: The extra class is of superior quality poses the shapes and color of the variety
and without internal defect likely to affect the inherent texture and flavor. A 5 percent tolerance is
allowed for errors. It must be carefully presented taking into accounts the uniformity of the
produces in size, color, and condition arrangement of the produce in the package, quality, and
appearances of the packing or pre-packing material.
Class I: Almost having the same quality is like the Extra Class except that a 10% tolerance
is allowed. Individual fruit is allowed a slight defect in shape, color, and minor skin defect, which
do not affect the general appearance for keeping qualities.
Class II: This class product may exhibit some external or internal defects provided they
are fit for consumption while fresh. This class is the best fitted for local or short distance market.
This category will satisfy the needs of customers who are not too demanding, and for whom price
is more important than quality.
INSPECTION
General inspection
 Raw material receiving department
 Product preparation area
 Packing and dispatching area
 Windows, doors, wall surfaces, floor, etc
 Mould, yeast and bacteria, the store must be protected from temperature fall of
more than 5-degree Celcius
Critical point of inspection

 Raw material
o Variety maturity
o Extent of spoilage or damage
o Pesticide residues
o Deterioration in handling and storage
o Potential contamination
 Container
o Type of container
o Weight of the container
o Seal
 Washing of fruits
o Public health significance
o Quality of water
 Preparation of fruits
o Efficiency of preparatory operation like peeling, coring and trimming
o Uniformely with respect to color, texture and maturity
 Filling
o The coeffiecient of varation in the wiegth of empty cans is generally about
4%
 Exhausting
o Periodic check should be made to ensure that the can coming out of the
exhaust box have attained the desired can center temperature
o It has direct relation to ultimate in the can which in turn is related to shelf-
life and behavior at different altitudes
 Container closure operation
o Protection of empty container
o Cleanig of container before filling
o Maintenance of can seams
o Measurement of can seams – external and internal, fermness testing
 Processing
o To be according to good manufacturing practices
o Rasting of process schedules near retorts
o Recording of retoring operation
 Cooling water
o Mircrobiological quality
 o Chlorine content
 Post process handling
o Prevention of filled containers from damage and contamination
o Cooling
o Warehouse – temperature, humidity etc
 Sanitation control
o Sampling
o Location: product or ingredient contact surfaces and non-product contact
surfaces – number of colonies in each case
o Visual appearance
o Microbiological level
o Rating – good, fair or poor

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Corrective action after inspection

 Inspection Tasks and Ratings

o The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Establishment Inspection Tasks are
designed to provide guidance to the inspector for determining industry's
compliance with regulatory requirements. Each inspection task includes a
task description which outlines the outcome that is to be met in order to
receive a satisfactory rating. Each task should be completed once during
the inspection.
The inspection tasks are divided into seven (7) chapters, which include:

 Premises
 Transportation, Receiving and Storage
 Equipment
 Personnel
 Sanitation and Pest Control
 Complaints and Recalls
 Operational Programs
 Rating
o Each task requires a rating based on the information gathered during the
inspection. In case of uncertainties in the determination of the rating, the
inspector(s) must consult with their immediate Supervisor, Regional
Program Officer and/or Area Specialist.

The following ratings should be used to evaluate the establishment's

conformity with the predetermined inspection tasks.

 Critical: A deficiency where product is affected (food safety) and

needs to be controlled before the CFIA inspector leave the
premises.
 Serious: A deficiency which could potentially result in product
being affected (food safety).
 Minor :A deficiency which will not or is unlikely to have an effect
on the product's food safety.
 Satisfactory: No deficiency observed against the inspection task.
 Not Applicable (N/A): The task is not applicable to the
establishment.
 Not Inspected (N/I): The task cannot be inspected at the time of
the visit (ex., because equipment and/or part of the establishment
is not in operation).
 Inspection Comments
o Inspection comments are the records of the conditions and practices
observed at the time of the inspection and are used to determine ratings.
Care must be taken to ensure that inspection comments are clear,
concise, accurate, unbiased, relevant and sufficient, in order to assign an
accurate rating.
o Comments may be recorded for each task, however each deficiency
rating (minor, serious, and critical) must have a comment.When a not
applicable and/or not inspected inspection rating applies, the situation
should be described in the inspection comments.
 o The following recommendations should be used when recording
inspection comments:
 Adequately describe all deficiencies including the location and
specific details in order to determine the severity of the problem
 Include the title/code and date of the records reviewed and the
deficiency notes.
 If company representatives are interviewed, include the name/title
of the corresponding representative.
 If the regulated party took action to control a produce or
deficiency, include a summary of the actions taken by the
regulated party.
 If CFIA took action to control a product or deficiency, include a
summary of the action taken by CFIA.
 Do not make recommendations for correction
 State only objective facts, avoiding personal opinions and
speculations
 Review the comments and ensure that they correspond to the
correct task
 Each deficiency rating must have a comment(s) associated with
the task
 Include any applicable legislative reference(s)
 Assessing Deficiencies and Assigning Ratings
o When all the inspection tasks have been assessed, it is recommended
that the inspector(s) meet in private to review the inspection findings,
identify deficiencies, and determine ratings.
o The inspector(s) should review all recorded inspection comments and
assign a rating (i.e., satisfactory, minor, serious, critical, not inspected, or
not applicable) to each task. The information below for assigning a rating
should not be used to assess whether a health risk exists, it should only
be used to determine the classification of the deficiency in terms of food
safety. That is, is the product's safety affected (critical) or could its safety
potentially become affected if the deficiency is not corrected (serious). If
an inspector suspects that public health may be at risk see section 5.2.1
 The following steps should be used to asses the deficiencies and
assign an appropriate rating:

 Identify the deficiency and area of concern, i.e. biological,
chemical, and physical, etc.
 Assess the controls in place and other relevant information.
 Identify whether the product has been affected (critical) or could
potentially be affected (serious).
 Apply the flow chart below to determine whether the rating is
satisfactory, minor, serious, or critical.
 Identify the applicable legislation under which the deficiency is
rated.