Canned Ripe Olives Grades and Standards

Grades of Canned Ripe Olives

1. U.S. Grade A is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that has a good flavor, that has a good color, that is practically free from defects, that has a good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 90 points: Provided, that such canned ripe olives may have a reasonably good color if the total score is not less than 90 points; and further Provided, that in the styles of whole and pitted olives, the variation in diameters does not exceed 4 mm, and of the 90 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more than 3 mm.
2. U.S. Grade B is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that has a good flavor, that has a reasonably good color, that is reasonably free from defects, that has a reasonably good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 80 points: Provided, that for the styles of whole and pitted olives, the variation in diameters does not exceed 8 mm, and of the 80 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more than 4 mm.
3. U.S. Grade C is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, chopped, and broken pitted styles that has a reasonably good flavor, that has a fairly good color, that is fairly free from defects, that has a fairly good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 70 points; and Provided, that for the styles of whole and pitted olives, of the 60 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more than 4 mm.
4. Substandard is the quality of canned ripe olives of any style that fail to meet the applicable requirements for U.S. Grade C.

Inspection Aid

• Headspace Gauge
• Photo Guide PG-11 Identification and Classification of Dates, Raisins, Prunes and Canned Ripe Olives Imported into the U.S.
• USDA Color Standard Olives, Canned Ripe Part No. M90056 (pdf)
• USDA Metric Sizer IA 110

See How to Purchase Inspection Aids for more details.

Detailed standards, Inspection Instructions & Other Resources:

• U.S. Grade Standards for Canned Ripe Olives (pdf)
• Inspection Instructions for Canned Ripe Olives (pdf)
• 7 CFR § 52.3750 – U.S. Standards for Grades of Canned Ripe Olives (pdf)
• 7 CFR 932 – Olives Grown in California (pdf)
• 7 CFR 944.401 – Olives Import Regulations (pdf)
• Certification Manual
• Condition of Container Manual
• FDA Food Defect Action Levels
• Foreign Material Manual
• General Procedures Manual 
• Safety Manual
• Sampling Manual
• Sanitation Manual
• SC 364-41 Work Sheet for Canned Ripe Olives 8e Marketing Order
• SC 364-42 Score Sheet for Segmented-Chopped-and Sliced Canned Ripe Olives
• SC 364-43 Score Sheet for Whole Canned Ripe Olives
• SC 374 Canned Ripe Olives Size Work Sheet
• SC 376 In-Line Score Sheet for Canned Ripe Olives
• SC 377 Canned Ripe Olive Flavor Review Submittal Sheet
• Section 8e Marketing Order Manual
• Technical Procedures Manual
• U.S. Standards for Determination of Fill Weights 
• U.S. Standards for Inspection by Variables