STANDARDIZATION AND INSPECTION FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 17 
are smaller and cleanliness requirements are higher. Such a policy has facili- 
tated the development of consumer standards because less field investigational 
work is necessary. It also qualifies sorters in packinghouses, trained to sort 
produce on the basis of wholesale grades, to sort it on the basis of consumer 
grades without much additional training. The policy also facilitates inspection 
in that inspectors use the same grade interpretations for inspecting a product 
under either type of standards. 
Use of consumer standards as a basis for packing and sale of produce has 
not yet become extensive. As with the development and issuance of other types 
of standards it is anticipated that it will take many years to develop consumer 
standards for all fresh products that are prepackged. 
THE INSPECTION SERVICE 
Most of the preceding discussion pertains to the history and development of 
U. S. standards by the Fruit and Vegetable Division of the Agricultural Market- 
ing Service and its predecessors. The discussion that follows will take up the 
practical application of the standards. 
As previously stated, the inspection service has been active since 1918 when 
Congress provided for inspection at receiving markets; 4 years later, in 1922, 
Congress provided for extending the service to shipping points. Federal inspec- 
tion offices are maintained in 76 of the larger cities throughout the country and 
all 48 States cooperate with ifie United States Department of Agriculture in 
rendering service to growers and shippers at shipping points. 
Shipping-Point Inspection 
The shipping-point inspection service is maintained in the various States by 
means of cooperative agreements between the Federal Government and some 
State agency. The cooperating State agency is generally the State department 
of agriculture, although in a few States it is with some other agency, such as 
the State college of agriculture. Agreements are now in force in 47 States, and in 
the remaining State the work is conducted under a federally operated trust fund. 
Shipping-point inspection is available to financially interested parties in practically 
all commercial- producing districts (fig. 20: 
Differences in State laws account for some variation in the provisions of 
agreements, namely, in the salaries of supervisors and inspectors, disposition 
of fees collected, and other such matters. In general, however, agreements 
provide that the service shall be under the joint direction of the Federal and 
State agencies. The Federal supervisor licenses the inspectors and is directly 
responsible for their training and supervision in the interpretation of standards, 
methods of making inspections, and certificate writing. Hiring of personnel, 
collection and disposition of fees, and the like, are left largely to the State 
cooperating agency. Inspectors must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the 
Federal supervisor that they are capable of properly inspecting the products for 
which they are licensed. 
In most of the important fruit and vegetable producing States where ship- 
ments are made throughout most or all of the months during the year, Federal 
supervisors maintain their offices the year-round. In some States, however, 
where the deals are short, as is the case in several States east of the Mississippi 
River, the Federal supervisor remains only during the active shipping season. 
Licensed inspectors in the latter States also move from State to State as shipping 
seasons progress. Many inspectors who work in Florida and Texas during the 
