How fruit is graded
If you have eaten much fruit, it will come as no surprise to you that the quality of a piece of fruit can vary widely. After all, everyone has heard of a “bad apple.”
Most regions of the world have adopted detailed quality standards that fruit and vegetables must meet before they can be shipped and sold to the public. Any fruit approved for sale has likely met some minimum requirements.
For example, EU regulations state that all apples must be:
- intact;
- sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded
- clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter
- practically free from pests
- free from damage caused by pests affecting the flesh
- free of abnormal external moisture
- free of any foreign smell and/or taste.
Different kinds of fruit have further individual specifications regarding factors such as size, shape, and degrees of ripeness. Minimum requirements for kiwi fruit require that the fruit be “Intact (but free of peduncle), sound, clean, adequately firm (not soft, or shriveled or water-soaked), well-formed (double or multiple fruits excluded), free of abnormal external moisture, free of any foreign smell and/or taste.” They also have to have reached a certain degree of ripeness and fall within a specific size range.
Most fruits are also categorized into three quality classes:
- Extra class, which generally includes fruits of superior quality, characteristic of the variety in their shape, size and color, with perfectly sound flesh and free of any defects that would affect the appearance, quality, keeping quality and presentation.
- Class I includes fruit of good quality, characteristic of the variety, with perfectly sound flesh. Some slight defects are permitted in the shape, development and coloring in Class I fruit. Minor bruises and blemishes are permitted, but limited in extent.
- Class II is fruit that doesn’t qualify as either Extra or Class I due to defects in shape, size, color, slight bruising or surface blemishes. Class II fruit may not have any major defects in the flesh.
Regulations like these go a good way to assure consumers that basic standards have been applied at some point to the fruit at their local fruit supplier. But a lot can happen between the field, the packinghouse, the supermarket and your office. How can consumers tell whether the oranges on offer at the market today are juicy and sweet or dry and tasteless. Are the melons ripe? Are the apples floury? Are the grapes sour? The pears are hard—will they ripen?
Although machines have been developed that can do some of the fruit grading, this process is mostly done by hand. Graders compare the internal and external appearance of fruit with models, ideal colours and photographs. So for example, if a piece of citrus fruit were being graded, the size colour and surface blemishes would all be taken into account. The graders give an oral report, as well as a written report, about the condition of the fruit.
Experienced shoppers (and eaters) know that apples should be very firm, while kiwis should be “medium soft.” Fruit lovers learn to judge the moisture content of an orange by its weight or the ripeness of a strawberry by its bright red colour, green top and slight softness. But without a doubt, the best help of all is a knowledgeable and reliable greengrocer or supplier who can be trusted to check and guarantee the quality of the product you are buying.
Author: Wendy Visontay - Founder of Fruit at Work