Green Olives Grades and Standards

Grades of Green Olives

  1. U.S. Grade A is the quality of whole, pitted, stuffed, halved, and sliced green olives that:

    1. Have similar varietal characteristics;

    2. have normal flavor and odor;

    3. have good color;

    4. are practically uniform in size in whole, pitted, and stuffed styles of single sizes;

    5. are practically free of defects;

    6. have good character; and

    7. score not less than 90 points when scored in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart.

  2. U.S. Grade B is the quality of whole, pitted, stuffed, halved, sliced, and chopped or minced styles of green olives that:

    1. Have similar varietal characteristics;

    2. have normal flavor and odor;

    3. have reasonably good color;

    4. are reasonably uniform in size in whole, pitted, and stuffed styles of single sizes;

    5. are reasonably free of defects;

    6. have reasonably good character; and

    7. score not less than 80 points when scored in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart.

  3. U.S. Grade C is the quality of whole, pitted stuffed, halved, sliced, chopped, or minced, and broken pitted styles of green olives that:

    1. Have similar varietal characteristics;

    2. have normal flavor and odor;

    3. have fairly good color;

    4. are fairly uniform in size in whole, pitted, and stuffed styles of single sizes;

    5. are fairly free of defects;

    6. have fairly good character; and

    7. score not less than 70 points when scored in accordance with the scoring system outlined in the subpart.

  4. Substandard is the quality of any style of green olives that fails to meet the applicable requirements of U.S. Grade C.

Detailed standards, Inspection Instructions & Other Resources: