United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Marketing Service

Federal Grain Inspection Service

U.S. Standards May 1988

Distribution: FGIS, OSP, Industry Originating Office: FMD PPMAB

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Subpart H -- United States Standards for Rye

Contents

Subpart H -- United States Standards for Rye 1

Terms Defined 2

Principles Governing the Application of Standards 3

Grades and Grade Requirements 3

Special Grades and Special Grade Requirements 4
Official US Standards for Grain

Rye

May 1988

Page 2

Terms Defined

§ 810.1201 Definition of rye.

Grain that, before the removal of dockage, consists of 50 percent or more of common 

rye (Secale cereale L.) and not more than 10 percent of other grains for which 

standards have been established under the United States Grain Standards Act and that, 

after the removal of dockage, contains 50 percent or more of whole rye.

§ 810.1202 Definition of other terms.

(a) Damaged kernels. Kernels, pieces of rye kernels, and other grains that are badly

ground-damaged, badly weather-damaged, diseased, frost-damaged, germ-damaged,

heat-damaged, insect-bored, mold-damaged, sprout-damaged, or otherwise materially

damaged.

(b) Dockage. All matter other than rye that can be removed from the original sample by

use of an approved device in accordance with procedures prescribed in FGIS 

instructions.

Also, underdeveloped, shriveled, and small pieces of rye kernels removed in properly

separating the material other than rye and that cannot be recovered by properly

rescreening and recleaning.

(c) Foreign material. All matter other than rye that remains in the sample after the

removal of dockage.

(d) Heat-damaged kernels. Kernels, pieces of rye kernels, and other grains that are

materially discolored and damaged by heat.

(e) Other grains. Barley, corn, cultivated buckwheat, einkorn, emmer, flaxseed, guar,

hull-less barley, nongrain sorghum, oats, Polish wheat, popcorn, poulard wheat, rice,

safflower, sorghum, soybeans, spelt, sunflower seed, sweet corn, triticale, wheat, and

wild oats.

(f) Sieve. 0.064 x 3/8 oblong-hole sieve. A metal sieve 0.032 inch thick with oblong

perforations 0.064 by 0.375 (3/8) inch.

(g) Thin rye. Rye and other matter that passes through a 0.064 x 3/8 oblong-hole sieve

after sieving according to procedures prescribed in FGIS instructions.
Official US Standards for Grain

Rye

May 1988

Page 3

Principles Governing the Application of Standards

§ 810.1203 Basis of determination.

Other determinations not specifically provided for under the general provisions are 

made on the basis of the grain when free from dockage, except the determination of 

odor is made on either the basis of the grain as a whole or the grain when free from 

dockage.

Grades and Grade Requirements

§ 810.1204 Grades and grade requirements for rye.

Grade Minimum

test weight

per bushel

(pounds)

Maximum limits of:

Foreign material Damaged kernels

Foreign

matter

other than

wheat

(percent)

Total

(percent)

Heat

damaged

(percent)

Total

(percent)

Thin rye

(percent)

U.S. No. 1

U.S. No. 2

U.S. No. 3

U.S. No. 4

56.0

54.0

52.0

49.0

1.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

3.0

6.0

10.0

10.0

0.2

0.2

0.5

3.0

2.0

4.0

7.0

15.0

10.0

15.0

25.0

--

U.S. Sample grade --

U.S. Sample grade is rye that:

(a) Does not meet the requirements for the grades U.S. Nos. 1, 2, 3, or 4; or

(b) Contains 8 or more stones or any numbers of stones which have an aggregate weight in 

excess of 0.2 percent of the sample weight, 2 or more pieces of glass, 3 or more crotalaria seeds 

(Crotalaria spp.), 2 or more castor beans (Ricinus communis L.), 4 or more particles of an unknown 

foreign substance(s) or a commonly recognized harmful or toxic substance(s), 2 or more rodent 

pellets, bird droppings, or equivalent quantity of other animal filth per 1-1/8 to 1-1/4 quarts of rye; or

(c) Has a musty, sour, or commercially objectionable foreign odor (except smut or garlic odor); or

(d) Is heating or otherwise of distinctly low quality.
Official US Standards for Grain

Rye

May 1988

Page 4

Special Grades and Special Grade Requirements

§ 810.1205 Special grades and special grade requirements.

(a) Ergoty rye. Rye that contains more than 0.30 percent of ergot.

(b) Garlicky rye. Rye that contains in a 1,000-gram portion more than six green garlic

bulblets or an equivalent quantity of dry or partly dry bulblets.

(c) Light garlicky rye. Rye that contains in a 1,000-gram portion two or more, but not

more than six, green garlic bulblets or an equivalent quantity of dry or partly dry bulblets.

(d) Light smutty rye. Rye that has an unmistakable odor of smut, or that contains in a 

250- gram portion smut balls, portions of smut balls, or spores of smut in excess of a 

quantity equal to 14 smut balls but not in excess of a quantity equal to 30 smut balls of 

average size.

(e) Plump rye. Rye that contains not more than 5.0 percent of rye and other matter that

passes through a 0.064 x 3/8 oblong-hole sieve.

(f) Smutty rye. Rye that contains in a 250-gram portion smut balls, portions of smut 

balls, or spores of smut in excess of a quantity equal to 30 smut balls of average size.