Relaxed grade standards for field-grown red and green leaf lettuce have been published by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service in the Federal Register and will go into effect March 23.

While this is the first time there have been grade standards for these field-grown items, previously USDA inspectors would grade the product against the tougher standards in place for greenhouse-grown red and green leaf lettuce.

Tom Oliveri, director of commodity services and trade practices for Western Growers Association in Irvine, CA, was one of only two industry representatives that submitted comments on the proposal when it was published last year. He told The Produce News Feb. 21 that the new standard will make it easier for shippers to meet grade on arrival when the product is inspected.

Specifically, the new standard allows for 12 percent quality and condition defects, with no more than 6 percent scored as serious defects  and of that 6 percent, no more than 3 percent can be for decay. "This brings the standards in line with those regulating head lettuce," said Mr. Oliveri.

In his comments to the USDA, Mr. Oliveri had supported the proposal as written, and that is essentially the standard the USDA has adopted.

The other party submitting comments to the proposal was Patrick Davis, president of the North American Perishable Agricultural Receivers, which had requested that USDA add Russet Spotting as a defect and use the same standard that applied to greenhouse-grown leaf lettuces for grading purposes.

In his statement, Mr. Davis said, Our members see no reason why the tolerances for field-grown leaf lettuce shouldnt be the same as those currently listed in the U.S. grade standard for greenhouse leaf lettuce.

The more restrictive standard for greenhouse leaf lettuces calls for tolerance levels of no more than 10 percent damage, 5 percent serious damage and 1 percent decay.

In his statement, Mr. Davis said that his association believes the more restrictive standard should be adopted particularly because of the general practice of increasing the tolerances by a factor of one-and-a-half times when good delivery standards are applied.

Mr. Oliveri explained that because product is shipped across the country, inspectors at destination apply a more liberal standard when grading.

As a matter of practicality, he said that the new standard will allow quality and condition defects at destination of 15-18 percent, with serious damage in the neighborhood of 8-9 percent and decay of 5 percent.

In the background section of the new rule, the Agricultural Marketing Service addressed the concerns of NAPAR. AMS does not agree with this assessment [that greenhouse lettuce and field-grown lettuce should be treated the same], since greenhouse leaf lettuce is grown in a more protected environment and typically has fewer defects. [NAPARs] second suggestion was that the defect Russet Spotting be included in the standards. AMS agrees with this comment, since Russet Spotting does occur on field-grown leaf lettuce. Consequently, AMS has added Russet Spotting as a defect, as well as scoring definitions to the standards.