The Graders And Their 

 Laboratories 



The average USDA grader is a college 

 graduate. Upon entering the grading 

 force, he or she goes through a formal 

 1-year training program getting a 

 thorough knowledge of grading tech- 

 niques through classroom theory work 

 and practical on-the-job training under 

 an experienced supervisor. Before new 

 graders are authorized to officially grade 

 and certify a specific product, they are 

 given additional training in the techniques 

 for grading that product. 



The trained grader is backed up by well- 

 equipped laboratory facilities. Each 

 grading office is equipped with the latest 

 scientific equipment needed for analyzing 

 the commodities inspected in the area. 



Quality Control Aids 



USDA has developed a number of visual 

 aids, color standards, and guides for 



Laboratory analysis of a product is 

 an important part of the official 

 grading process. 



uniform interpretation of the various 

 quality factors in the U.S. grade stan- 

 dards. While these were designed 

 primarily for use by the grading service, 

 many of them are also available to you 

 as an industry member. Processors, par- 

 ticularly, find these visual aids and color 

 guides valuable tools in maintaining 

 quality control during their processing 

 operations. 



Among the types of visual aids used by 

 the grading force are wax models depict- 

 ing shapes, colors, and defects; special 

 plastic and glass color comparators; 

 photographic color slides and prints; and 

 black and white photographs and draw- 

 ings. USDA has granted licenses to 

 qualified firms to manufacture and sell 

 some of these visual aids. You can get 

 details on available aids and the firms 

 who manufacture them from the grading 

 office nearest you. 



USDA has also developed two standards 

 for statistical procedures. One standard 

 covers inspection by variables (those 

 characteristics that can be measured 



against a specified requirement). This 

 standard contains certain basic informa- 

 tion such as definitions of statistical 

 terms and symbols, the recording of 

 data, and the principles of acceptance 

 and rejection. 



The other standard supplements the first 

 and is of an instructional nature. It 

 supplies specifics for the determination 

 of the amount of fruit or vegetable ingre- 

 dients filled into a container at the time 

 of processing. 



Together, these standards represent a 

 part of USDA's efforts to use new con- 

 cepts for product control in its standard- 

 ization and grading programs. They are 

 also available for use by processors. 

 You can get details on these standards 

 and find out how they can fit into your 

 quality control program by contacting 

 the Washington, D.C., office of the 

 grading service. 



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