STANDARDIZATION AND INSPECTION OF FRESH 
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 
By Raymond L. Spangler, Marketing Specialist, Agricultural 
Marketing Service 
Standardization and inspection of fresh fruits and vegetables have made great 
strides since 1913. Prior to World War I, U. S. Standards and Government in- 
spection had not yet materialized and the stage was being set for the unusual 
developments that were to follow. Most of the nearly 700,000 cars of fresh 
fruits and vegetables shipped annually by rail to city markets are bought and 
sold on the basis of official standards, mostly Federal, and more than half of them 
are inspected and certified for grade by Federal-State inspectors at shipping 
points. 
A large portion of the shipments by motortruck are also inspected. Federal- 
State inspectors also inspect close to a half-million carlot equivalents of raw 
products for processing and farmers’ stock peanuts annually. In the receiving 
markets, Federal inspectors also inspect annually in the neighborhood of 50,000 
cars of fresh produce besides a slightly greater volume of supplies purchased by 
Government and private agencies. 
The packing of fruits and vegetables in accordance with the requirements of 
official standards is the first step required for orderly marketing and efficient 
buying and selling (fig. 1). They furnish the yardstick for measuring varia- 
tions in quality, and their use has made possible a basis for satisfactory long- 
distance dealing. 
Clear and definite standards are indispensable in the settlement of disputes 
between buyers and sellers. They also make easier the settlement of claims 
against transportation companies when it is necessary to establish the value of a 
product before a fair adjustment can be made. 
Standardized grades form the basis for market news prices and are necessary 
to permit an intelligent comparison of market prices. 
Separation of products into various grades furnishes a basis for growers to pool 
their products in cooperative marketing associations in order that all may share 
equitably in the season’s sales. 
More effective distribution of fruits and vegetables is permitted by separating 
them into various grades. Market demands vary in different localities and 
effective distribution consists in finding the market that will give the greatest 
return for the grade of product offered for sale. 
The desirability of standard grades as a basis for advertising is plain in that 
advertising is without meaning and therefore useless unless backed up by products 
uniformly graded and packed. 
In the field of financing, either private or governmental, standardized grades 
are of first importance in establishing the value of products upon which loans 
may be made. 
Finally, trading on the basis of quality is the greatest stimulus to better methods 
of production and marketing because it helps growers and shippers to correct their 
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