[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4913-4916]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-01457]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 51

[Document Number AMS-SC-19-0036, SC-19-330]


Revision of Three U.S. Grade Standards for Carrots

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) proposes to revise the U.S. Standards for Grades of 
Topped Carrots, U.S. Standards for Grades of Bunched Carrots, and U.S. 
Standards for Grades of Carrots with Short Trimmed Tops. AMS is 
proposing to add more U.S. No. 1 grades to accommodate carrots of 
colors other than orange, orange red, and orange scarlet. The current 
U.S. No. 1 grades would remain unchanged. In addition, AMS is proposing 
to remove the Unclassified section and renumber sections due to the 
additional grades.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 30, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
the USDA, Specialty Crops Inspection Division, 100 Riverside Parkway, 
Suite 101, Fredericksburg, VA 22406; fax: (540) 361-1199; or at 
www.regulations.gov. Comments should reference the dates and page 
number of this issue of the Federal Register. Comments will be posted 
without change, including any personal information provided. All 
comments received within the comment period will become part of the 
public record maintained by the Agency and will be made available to 
the public via www.regulations.gov. Comments will be made available for 
public inspection at the above address during regular business hours or 
can be viewed at: www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Contact David G. Horner at the 
address above, by phone (540) 361-1128; fax (540) 361-1199; or, email 
[email protected]. Copies of the proposed U.S. Standards for Grades 
of Topped Carrots, U.S. Standards for Grades of Bunched Carrots, and 
U.S. Standards for Grades of Carrots with Short Trimmed Tops are 
available at http://www.regulations.gov. Copies of the current U.S. 
Standards for Grades of Topped Carrots, U.S. Standards for Grades of 
Bunched Carrots, and U.S. Standards for Grades of Carrots with Short 
Trimmed Tops are available on the Specialty Crops Inspection Division 
website at www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/vegetables.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 203(c) of the Agricultural Marketing 
Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627) as amended, directs and authorizes the 
Secretary of Agriculture ``to develop and improve standards of quality, 
condition, quantity, grade, and packaging, and recommend and 
demonstrate such standards in order to encourage uniformity and 
consistency in commercial practices.''
    AMS is committed to carrying out this authority in a manner that 
facilitates the marketing of agricultural commodities and makes copies 
of official standards available upon request. The U.S. Standards for 
Grades of Fruits and Vegetables that no longer appear in the Code of 
Federal Regulations are maintained by AMS at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards. AMS is proposing revisions to these U.S. Standards 
for Grades using the procedures that appear in part 36 of Title 7 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR part 36).

[[Page 4914]]

Background

    AMS continually reviews all fruit and vegetable grade standards to 
ensure their usefulness to the industry, modernize language, and remove 
duplicative terminology. On December 22, 2008, AMS published a notice 
in the Federal Register (73 FR 78286) regarding revising the three U.S. 
grade standards for carrots to accommodate colors other than orange, 
orange red, and orange scarlet. The notice proposed revising the color 
section to allow carrots of any color characteristic of the variety to 
be graded using the standards. Also, the similar varietal 
characteristic requirement would have been amended to allow mixed 
colors and/or types when designated as a mixed or specialty pack. The 
industry as a whole opposed these revisions on the basis that non-
orange carrots include heirloom carrots that may not have been bred for 
uniformity and may not have the same type of characteristics of orange 
carrots.
    After gathering more feedback from the industry, AMS developed 
additional grades to accommodate other colors. For the Topped Carrots, 
two new grades are U.S. No. 1 Color and U.S. No. 1 Jumbo Color. For the 
Bunched and Short Trimmed Carrots, the new grade is U.S. No. 1 Color. 
The current grades remain unchanged. The new grades are identical to 
the current grades except for the color requirement (the following 
tables summarize the proposed revisions).
    AMS spoke with several major U.S. carrot growers by telephone and 
emailed them a discussion paper on the proposed revisions. No one 
opposed the changes.
    In addition, AMS is proposing to remove the Unclassified section. 
AMS is removing this section in all standards as they are revised, as 
it is no longer considered necessary. The category was never a grade 
and only served to show no grade was applied to the lot.
    Finally, some sections would be renumbered due to the additional 
grades.
    The following tables summarizes the proposed revisions and provides 
rationale for any changes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Current                  Proposed             Discussion
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      U.S. Topped Carrot Standards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2360 U.S. Extra     Sec.   51.2360 U.S.   All remain
 No. 1.                        Extra No. 1.          unchanged.
Sec.   51.2361 U.S. No. 1...  Sec.   51.2361 U.S.
                               No. 1.
Sec.   51.2362 U.S. No. 1     Sec.   51.2362 U.S.
 Jumbo.                        No. 1 Jumbo.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              Sec.   51.2363 U.S.   Additional grades,
                               No. 1 Color and       U.S. No. 1 Color
                               U.S. No. 1 Jumbo      and U.S. No. 1
                               Color.                Jumbo Color, are
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   proposed to
                               or ``U.S. No. 1       accommodate other
                               Jumbo Color''         colors. The U.S.
                               consists of carrots   No. 1 Color and
                               which meet the        U.S. No. 1 Jumbo
                               requirements of the   Color grades are
                               U.S. No. 1 or U.S.    identical to the
                               No. 1 Jumbo grades    U.S. No. 1 and U.S.
                               except for fairly     No. 1 Jumbo grades,
                               well colored. All     except for the
                               roots must show       color requirement.
                               good characteristic   The new grades will
                               color, which means    ensure all grades
                               the root has a        are premium
                               uniform               quality, will
                               characteristic        provide greater
                               color for the         flexibility, and
                               variety over          will bring the
                               practically the       standards in line
                               entire surface.       with current
                               Roots may be          marketing trends.
                               comingled with
                               varieties of
                               different colors,
                               provided roots are
                               of the same type.
                               (See Sec.
                               51.2365.).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2363 U.S. No. 2...  Sec.   51.2364 U.S.   Remains the same
                               No. 2.                except section
                                                     number changes from
                                                     51.2363 to 51.2364.
                                                     The U.S. No. 2
                                                     grade does not have
                                                     any color
                                                     requirements. In
                                                     addition, carrots
                                                     of other colors,
                                                     such as maroon,
                                                     tend to be
                                                     specialty pack
                                                     products and
                                                     generally would not
                                                     be sold as U.S. No.
                                                     2. Therefore, no
                                                     U.S. No. 2 Color
                                                     grade is proposed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2364 Unclassified.  Removed.............  AMS is removing this
``Unclassified'' consists of                         section in all
 carrots which have not been                         standards as they
 classified in accordance                            are revised, as it
 with any of the foregoing                           is no longer
 grades. The term                                    considered
 ``unclassified'' is not a                           necessary. The
 grade within the meaning of                         category was never
 these standards, but is                             a grade and only
 provided as a designation                           served to show no
 to show that no grade has                           grade was applied
 been applied to the lot.                            to the lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2365 Tolerances...  Sec.   51.2365        The proposed U.S.
(2) U.S. No. 1 and U.S. No.    Tolerances.           No. 1 Color and
 1 Jumbo grades. Ten percent  (2) U.S. No. 1, U.S.   U.S. No. 1 Jumbo
 for carrots in any lot        No. 1 Jumbo, U.S.     Color grades have
 which fail to meet the        No. 1 Color, and      the same tolerances
 requirements of the grade:    U.S. No. 1 Jumbo      as the other grades
 Provided, That not more       Color grades. Ten     in this section,
 than one-half of this         percent for carrots   which all remain
 amount, or 5 percent, shall   in any lot which      unchanged.
 be allowed for defects        fail to meet the
 causing serious damage,       requirements of the
 including therein not more    grade: Provided,
 than 2 percent for carrots    That not more than
 affected by soft rot.         one-half of this
                               amount, or 5
                               percent, shall be
                               allowed for defects
                               causing serious
                               damage, including
                               therein not more
                               than 2 percent for
                               carrots affected by
                               soft rot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      U.S. Bunched Carrot Standards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2455 U.S. No. 1...  Sec.   51.2455 U.S.   Remains unchanged.
                               No. 1.

[[Page 4915]]

 
                              Sec.   51.2456 U.S.   An additional grade,
                               No. 1 Color.          U.S. No. 1 Color,
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   is proposed to
                               consists of carrots   accommodate other
                               which meet the        colors. The U.S.
                               requirements of       No. 1 Color is
                               U.S. No. 1 except     identical to the
                               for fairly well       U.S. No. 1 grade,
                               colored. All roots    except for the
                               must show good        color requirement.
                               characteristic        The new grade will
                               color, which means    ensure all grades
                               the root has a        are premium
                               uniform               quality, will
                               characteristic        provide greater
                               color for the         flexibility, and
                               variety over          will bring the
                               practically the       standards in line
                               entire surface.       with current
                               Roots may be          marketing trends.
                               comingled with
                               varieties of
                               different colors,
                               provided roots are
                               of the same type.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2456 U.S.           Sec.   51.2457 U.S.   Remains the same
 Commercial.                   Commercial.           except section
                                                     number changes from
                                                     51.2456 to 51.2457.
                                                     Carrots of other
                                                     colors, such as
                                                     maroon, tend to be
                                                     specialty pack
                                                     products and
                                                     generally would not
                                                     be sold as U.S.
                                                     Commercial, so no
                                                     U.S. Commercial
                                                     Color grade is
                                                     proposed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2457 Unclassified.  Removed.............  AMS is removing this
``Unclassified'' consists of                         section in all
 carrots which have not been                         standards as they
 classified in accordance                            are revised, as it
 with either of the                                  is no longer
 foregoing grades. The term                          considered
 ``unclassified'' is not a                           necessary. The
 grade within the meaning of                         category was never
 these standards, but is                             a grade and only
 provided as a designation                           served to show no
 to show that no grade has                           grade was applied
 been applied to the lot.                            to the lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   U.S. Short Trimmed Carrot Standards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2485 U.S. No. 1...  Sec.   51.2485 U.S.   Remains unchanged.
                               No. 1.
                              Sec.   51.2486 U.S.   An additional grade,
                               No. 1 Color.          U.S. No. 1 Color,
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   is proposed to
                               consists of carrots   accommodate other
                               which meet the        colors. The U.S.
                               requirements of       No. 1 Color is
                               U.S. No. 1 except     identical to the
                               for fairly well       U.S. No. 1 grade,
                               colored. All roots    except for the
                               must show good        color requirement.
                               characteristic        The new grade will
                               color, which means    ensure all grades
                               the root has a        are premium
                               uniform               quality, will
                               characteristic        provide greater
                               color for the         flexibility, and
                               variety over          will bring the
                               practically the       standards in line
                               entire surface.       with current
                               Roots may be          marketing trends.
                               comingled with
                               varieties of
                               different colors,
                               provided roots are
                               of the same type.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2486 U.S.           Sec.   51.2487 U.S.   Remains the same
 Commercial.                   Commercial.           except section
                                                     number changes from
                                                     51.2486 to 51.2487.
                                                     Carrots of other
                                                     colors, such as
                                                     maroon, tend to be
                                                     specialty pack
                                                     products and
                                                     generally would not
                                                     be sold as U.S.
                                                     Commercial, so no
                                                     U.S. Commercial
                                                     Color grade is
                                                     proposed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.   51.2487 Unclassified.  Removed.............  AMS is removing this
``Unclassified'' consists of                         section in all
 carrots which have not been                         standards as they
 classified in accordance                            are revised, as it
 with either of the                                  is no longer
 foregoing grades. The term                          considered
 ``unclassified'' is not a                           necessary. The
 grade within the meaning of                         category was never
 these standards, but is                             a grade and only
 provided as a designation                           served to show no
 to show that no grade has                           grade was applied
 been applied to the lot.                            to the lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As stated, the proposed revisions will ensure all grades are 
premium quality, provide greater flexibility, and bring the standards 
in line with current marketing trends.
    A 60-day comment period is provided for interested persons to 
submit comments on the proposed revised grade standards. Copies of the 
proposed revised standards are available at http://www.regulations.gov. 
After the 60-day comment period, AMS will move forward in accordance 
with 7 CFR 36.3(a)(1-3).

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 1621-1627.

    Dated: January 23, 2020.
Bruce Summers,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-01457 Filed 1-27-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-02-P