A rather wide divergence of views 

 appeared in answers to the question: 

 *' What kind of label or brand would you 

 be willing to use on that part of your 

 pack sold through the central sales 

 agency? ^ Were such an agency organ- 

 ized, solution to the label problem would 

 probably have to be a compromise. A 

 summary of the answers follows: 



r 





Number 



of 





Brand preferred 



firms 





Percentage 



Our own 



10 





19 



Central agency 



23 





43 



Buyer's brand 



1 





O 



Some coirhlnation 



16 





30 



No answer 



3 





6 



Total 



53 



100 



Quality maintenance 



Without exception, all cooperatives 

 reporting interest in a joint marketing 

 program expressed willingness to con- 

 form to uniform quality requirements. 

 This is qviite significant since uniformity 

 of quality among shippers would be highly 

 important in building and maintaining 

 product acceptance. 



However, membership in a central 

 sales agency which sets quality standards 

 applicable to all members would require 

 individual processors to relinquish cer- 

 tain prerogatives. Firms packing imder 

 continuous Federal inspection would have 

 no problem because they have already 

 turned quality control over to an outside 

 agency. Firms doing their own inspection 

 would need to abide by decisions of an 

 inspector over whom they had no authority. 

 This might call for some basic adjust- 

 ments in point of view. 



Variation between the same product 

 grown in widely different parts of the 

 country is another factor bearing on the 

 problem of quality control. For example, 

 a U. S. No. 1 cherry grown in the northern 

 States may have a somewhat different 

 texture and flavor than a U. S. No. 1 

 cherry grown in a warmer climate. 



Interested processors were asked a 

 series of specific questions concerning 

 quality control. The first question was: 

 ''Do you use U. S. Grades?" Forty-one 



Uniform product quality is a necessity in 

 today's mass markets . Many processors 



assure this uni formity by processing fruits 

 and vegetables under cont inuous Federal 

 insoect ion . 



replied in the affirmative; 10 in the 

 negative; and two did not answer. 



" How do you maintain quality con- 

 trol? " was the second question. Several 

 cooperatives reported using more than 

 one method so the following tabulation of 

 answers is not additive. 



Method of maintaining 









quality control 



Number 



of 

 30 



firms 



Federal-State Inspection 





Cooperative Inspection 





31 





Both 





15 





Other 





2 





No answer 





5 





Twenty-one processors answered, 

 "Yes" to: " If you do use U. S. grades, 

 do youpack under continuous inspection? 

 Nineteen said, "No," and three did not 

 reply. 



There were only three replies to the 

 last question of the series: " If you do not 

 use U. S. grades, on what basis do you 

 determine quality to be packed? " One 

 firm reported using grades higher than 

 U. S. and two said they used similar 

 grades. 



