[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 122 (Wednesday, June 24, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37820-37822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12828]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 122 / Wednesday, June 24, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 37820]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) is revising 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 adding 
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 
will remain unchanged. In addition, AMS is removing the Unclassified 
section and renumbering sections due to the additional grades.

DATES: July 24, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David G. Horner, USDA, Specialty Crops 
Inspection Division, 100 Riverside Parkway, Suite 101, Fredericksburg, 
VA 22406, by phone (540) 361-1128; fax (540) 361-1199; or, email 
[email protected]. Copies of the revised 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 or on the AMS 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 are voluntary and no longer appear 
in the Code of Federal Regulations (60 FR 62172, December 4, 1995) are 
maintained by AMS at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards. AMS is 
revising 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).

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, 
the 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 revisions).
    AMS spoke with several major U.S. carrot growers by telephone and 
emailed them a discussion paper on the proposed revisions. One major 
U.S. carrot grower stated that they were in favor of establishing a 
U.S. grade for colored carrots. No one opposed the changes.
    On January 28, 2020, AMS published a notice in the Federal Register 
(85 FR 4913) proposing to revise the three U.S. carrot standards by 
adding more U.S. No. 1 grades to accommodate carrots of colors other 
than orange, orange red, and orange scarlet. In addition, AMS proposed 
to remove the Unclassified section and renumber sections due to the 
additional grades. The public submission period closed March 30, 2020, 
with 10 comments submitted.
    All of the comments were submitted by the general public. Six 
comments supported the proposed revisions; three were beyond the scope 
of the notice; and one individual did not support the proposed changes 
due to not understanding AMS' intentions. The following addresses those 
misunderstandings.
     The individual stated, ``The USDA already knows what 
constitutes a good quality carrot.'' From additional remarks, the 
individual did not understand that AMS is part of the USDA. It is the 
USDA that proposed these revisions.
     The individual stated, ``There are standards for carrots 
that are not orange, orange red, or orange scarlet.'' There were no 
U.S. grade standards for carrots unless they were orange, orange red, 
or orange scarlet. For example, a maroon colored carrot could not be 
certified to a U.S. grade.
     The individual stated, ``There are already provisions in 
place for color defects in carrots . . . Adding mixed colors to the 
standard could jeopardize the entire quality check system.'' This 
comment implies that the commenter believes ``mixed colors'' refers to 
an individual carrot of more than one color. ``Mixed colors'' refers to 
packing carrots of different solid colors in the same package. 
Individual carrots are not more than one color. The industry already 
markets mixed color packs; however, the package could not be assigned a 
U.S. grade.
    In addition to including the new U.S. No. 1 grades, AMS is removing 
the Unclassified section from the carrot standards. AMS is removing 
this section in all standards as they are revised because it is no 
longer considered necessary. The category was never a grade and only 
showed that no grade was applied to the lot.

[[Page 37821]]

    Finally, some sections are renumbered due to the additional grades. 
The following tables summarize the revisions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Previous                   Revised               Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      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.   U.S. No. 1 Color and
                               No. 1 Color and       U.S. No. 1 Jumbo
                               U.S. No. 1 Jumbo      Color grades are
                               Color.                added to
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   accommodate other
                               or ``U.S. No. 1       colors. The U.S.
                               Jumbo Color''         No. 1 Color and
                               consists of carrots   U.S. No. 1 Jumbo
                               which meet the        Color grades are
                               requirements of the   identical to the
                               U.S. No. 1 or U.S.    U.S. No. 1 and U.S.
                               No. 1 Jumbo grades    No. 1 Jumbo grades,
                               except for fairly     except for the
                               well colored. All     color requirement.
                               roots must show       The new grades
                               good characteristic   ensure all grades
                               color, which means    are premium
                               the root has a        quality, provide
                               uniform               greater
                               characteristic        flexibility, and
                               color for the         bring the standards
                               variety over          in line with
                               practically the       current marketing
                               entire surface.       trends.
                               Roots may be
                               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.
Sec.   51.2364 Unclassified.  Removed.............  AMS is removing this
``Unclassified''' consists                           section in all
 of carrots which have not                           standards as they
 been classified in                                  are revised as it
 accordance with any 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                           showed that 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 revised U.S. No.
 . . (a) Defects . . . (2)     Tolerances . . .      1 Color and U.S.
 U.S. No. 1 and U.S. No. 1     (a) Defects . . .     No. 1 Jumbo Color
 Jumbo grades. Ten percent     (2) U.S. No. 1,       grades have the
 for carrots in any lot        U.S. No. 1 Jumbo,     same tolerances as
 which fail to meet the        U.S. No. 1 Color,     the other grades in
 requirements of the grade:    and U.S. No. 1        this section, which
 Provided, That not more       Jumbo Color grades.   all remain
 than one-half of this         Ten percent for       unchanged.
 amount, or 5 percent, shall   carrots in any lot
 be allowed for defects        which fail to meet
 causing serious damage,       the requirements of
 including therein not more    the grade:
 than 2 percent for carrots    Provided, That not
 affected by soft rot.         more than 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.
                              Sec.   51.2456 U.S.   U.S. No. 1 Color
                               No. 1 Color.          grade is added to
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   accommodate other
                               consists of carrots   colors. The U.S.
                               which meet the        No. 1 Color is
                               requirements of       identical to the
                               U.S. No. 1 except     U.S. No. 1 grade,
                               for fairly well       except for the
                               colored. All roots    color requirement.
                               must show good        The new grade
                               characteristic        ensures all grades
                               color, which means    are premium
                               the root has a        quality, provides
                               uniform               greater
                               characteristic        flexibility, and
                               color for the         brings the
                               variety over          standards in line
                               practically the       with current
                               entire surface.       marketing trends.
                               Roots may be
                               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.
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                           showed that 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.

[[Page 37822]]

 
                              Sec.   51.2486 U.S.   U.S. No. 1 Color
                               No. 1 Color.          grade is added to
                              ``U.S. No. 1 Color''   accommodate other
                               consists of carrots   colors. The U.S.
                               which meet the        No. 1 Color grade
                               requirements of       is identical to the
                               U.S. No. 1 except     U.S. No. 1 grade,
                               for fairly well       except for the
                               colored. All roots    color requirement.
                               must show good        The new grade
                               characteristic        ensures all grades
                               color, which means    are premium
                               the root has a        quality, provides
                               uniform               greater
                               characteristic        flexibility, and
                               color for the         brings the
                               variety over          standards in line
                               practically the       with current
                               entire surface.       marketing trends.
                               Roots may be
                               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.
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                           showed that no
 to show that no grade has                           grade was applied
 been applied to the lot.                            to the lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bruce Summers,
Administrator,Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-12828 Filed 6-23-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P