Annual Report - 3 - 



With a memoranda of agreement between Massachusetts and the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, this state has agreed to have our 

 ovm state inspectors trained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

 This includes sampling the product in a prescribed Federal uniform 

 manner, keeping proper and accurate note sheets to determine final 

 grade of the product and writing the quality, condition and final 

 grade of the product in the proper terminology. After this training 

 all our State inspectors are issued a U.S.D.A. license which is a 

 requirement before being allowed to inspect. 



In return Massachusetts is allowed to certify Massachusetts 

 farm products by our own trained licensed inspectors on official 

 United States Department of Agriculture certificates which are 

 prima facie evidence in all U.S. courts. 



This inspection service is offered by the Division of Markets 

 to any financially interested party within the Commonwealth for a 

 fee basis and so the program is self-sustaining. All fees are re- 

 tained by the Commonv/ealth except for a very small administrative 

 cost retained by the U.S.D.A. 



Over many years the Federal-State Inspection Service in 

 Massachusetts, through strict adherence to grades and other essen- 

 tial data, has done much to upgrade the quality, condition and 

 grade of the final product. 



The three major commodities inspected for grade at shipping 

 points in Massachusetts this year were apples, cranberries and 

 potatoes. 



The major inspection this year was the Cranberry program. 

 Massachusetts produces approximately one-half of all the cran- 



