Tangerine Grades and Standards

Grades of Tangerines 

  1. U.S. Fancy shall consist of tangerines which are mature, firm, and well formed; free from unhealed skin breaks, dryness or mushy condition, hard or dry skins and decay; free from injury caused by ammoniation, bruising, creasing, green spots or oil spots, skin breakdown, scale, sprouting, sprayburn, and sunburn, and free from damage caused by buckskin, melanose, scars, scab, dirt or other foreign materials, disease, insects, mechanical or other means.
    1. Each fruit of this grade shall be well colored.
    2. In this grade not more than 1/10 of the surface in the aggregate of each fruit may have a light shade of brown discoloration caused by rust mite, or an equivalent in appearance to this amount when the fruit is discolored by any cause. (See §51.1778)
  2. U.S. No. 1 shall consist of tangerines which are mature, firm, and well formed; free from unhealed skin breaks, hard or dry skins, and decay; free from damage by ammoniation, bruising, creasing, dryness or mushy condition, green spots or oil spots, skin breakdown, scale, sprouting, sprayburn, sunburn, buckskin, melanose, scars, scab, dirt or other foreign materials, disease, insects, mechanical or other means.

    1. Each fruit of this grade shall be fairly well colored.

    2. In this grade not more than one-third of the surface in the aggregate of each fruit may have a light shade of brown discoloration caused by rust mite, or an equivalent in appearance to this amount when the fruit is discolored by any cause. (See §51.1778)

  3. U.S. No. 1 Bronze The requirements for this grade are the same as for U.S. No. 1 except for discoloration. In this grade at least 75 percent, by count, of the fruit shall show some discoloration, and more than 20 percent, by count, of the fruit shall have more than one-third of the surface of each fruit affected with bronzed russeting: Provided, That no discoloration that exceeds the amount allowed in the U.S. No. 1 grade shall be permitted unless such discoloration is caused by thrip or wind scars, or rust mite. (See §51.1778)

  4. U.S. Combination consists of a combination of U.S. No. 1 and U.S. No. 2 tangerines: Provided, That at least 40 percent, by count, of the tangerines in each lot shall meet the requirements of the U.S. No. 1 grade. (See §51.1781)
  5. U.S. No. 2 shall consist of tangerines which are mature, fairly firm, and fairly well-formed; free from unhealed skin breaks, hard or dry skins, and decay; free from serious damage by ammoniation, bruising, creasing, dryness or mushy condition, green spots or oil spots, skin breakdown, scale, sprouting, sprayburn, sunburn, buckskin, melanose, scars, scab, dirt or other foreign materials, disease, insects, mechanical or other means.

    1. Each fruit of this grade shall be reasonably well colored.

    2. In this grade not more than two-thirds of the surface in the aggregate of each fruit may be affected with light brown discoloration, or may have the equivalent to this amount in appearance when the fruit has lighter or darker shades of discoloration. (See §51.1778)

  6. U.S. No. 2 Russet The requirements for this grade are the same as for U.S. No. 2 except that more than 20 percent, by count, of the fruits shall have in excess of two-thirds of the surface in the aggregate affected with light brown discoloration. (See §51.1778)

  7. U.S. No. 3 shall consist of tangerines which are mature, not flabby and not seriously lumpy; which are free from unhealed skin breaks, hard or dry skins, and decay; free from very serious damage by bruises, ammoniation, creasing, dryness or mushy condition, oil spots or green spots, skin breakdown, scale, sprouting, sprayburn, sunburn, buckskin, melanose, scars, scab, dirt or other foreign materials, disease, insects, mechanical or other means. (See §51.1780)

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