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Notices Federal Register

46673 

Vol. 86, No. 158 

Thursday, August 19, 2021 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Doc. No. AMS–SC–20–0096, SC–20–327] 

Revision of U.S. Standards for Grades 

of Watermelons 

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 Watermelons. 

Changes will provide a common 

language for trade of watermelons. 

DATES: Applicable September 20, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David G. Horner, USDA, Specialty 

Crops Inspection Division, 100 

Riverside Parkway, Suite 101, 

Fredericksburg, VA 22406; phone (540) 

361–1128; fax (540) 361–1199; or email 

Dave.Horner@usda.gov. 

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 revising the 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 

On October 22, 2019, the National 

Watermelon Association (NWA), a trade 

association representing growers, 

retailers, and shippers from 30 U.S. 

states, Canada, and Central America, 

petitioned the USDA to revise the 

watermelon standards and update the 

official USDA visual aids library. AMS 

worked closely with the NWA 

throughout the development of the 

proposed revisions, soliciting their 

comments and suggestions about the 

standards through discussion drafts and 

presentations. Through this 

collaboration, AMS also developed and 

issued four new watermelon visual aids. 

On November 20, 2020, the NWA 

approved the proposed revisions, and 

on March 11, 2021, a Proposed Notice 

was published in the Federal Register 

(86 FR 13874). The public comment 

period closed May 10, 2021, with 45 

comments from the industry, 44 of 

which fully supported the proposed 

revisions. 

One commenter supported the 

revisions except for the proposed 

scoring guide for rind worm injury 

occurring on the ground spot. The 

commenter felt consumers will not 

overlook this defect because they 

understand that this is the ground spot, 

but was open to compromise. The NWA 

originally proposed to forgo scoring rind 

worm injury when affecting the ground 

spot. The color of the ground spot 

changes throughout the growing stages, 

from pale white to creamy yellow at 

maturity. Rind worm injury is tan in 

color and more readily blends with the 

color of the ground spot. AMS 

determined that rind worm injury on 

the ground spot is less detracting, but 

not to the extent that the grade standard 

would allow an unlimited amount. AMS 

believes scoring rind worm injury on 

the ground spot that seriously detracts 

from the appearance of the melon as 

damage, but not as serious damage, is a 

reasonable compromise. Rind worm 

injury occurring on portions of the 

melon other than the ground spot will 

continue to be scored as damage and 

serious damage. 

To show their support of the 

revisions, commenters generally ended 

their submissions with the following or 

a similar statement: ‘‘The USDA has the 

full support of the NWA and its 

membership (that crosses the country 

from coast to coast and border to border 

(and beyond in some cases). Thank you 

for your support, and your help in this 

vital effort.’’ 

Therefore, AMS is making the 

following changes: 

• § 51.1973 Tolerances: For defects at 

shipping point, en route, or at 

destination for the U.S. No. 1 and U.S. 

No. 2 grades, AMS will remove the 3% 

tolerance for Anthracnose at shipping 

point and remove the 5% tolerance for 

Anthracnose en route or at destination. 

The tolerance for decay will be revised 

to establish a total tolerance of 1% for 

shipping point and 2% for en route or 

at destination for Anthracnose and 

decay. 

• § 51.1976 Size: AMS will align 

weights with current marketing trends 

by adjusting the average weights to 10 

to 34 pounds. 

• § 51.1985 Permanent defects and 

§ 51.1986 Condition defects: AMS will 

remove sunburn as a condition defect 

and add sunburn as a permanent defect. 

• § 51.1978 and § 51.1982: In 

§ 51.1978, AMS will correct the typo in 

the definition for fairly well formed to 

read ‘‘the perfect type for the variety’’ 

instead of ‘‘the perfect type of the 

variety.’’ In § 51.1982, AMS will add the 

missing heading identifying the 

definition: ‘‘Seedless watermelons.’’ 

• § 51.1987 Classification of defects: 

AMS will base the scoring guides for 

sunburn, hail, rind worm injury, scars 

(and other similar defects), and transit 

rubs on a 15-pound melon and will base 

the scoring guide for hollow heart on 

any size melon. Lastly, AMS will limit 

the scoring of rind worm injury on the 

ground spot by scoring it under the 

definition of damage when seriously 

detracting from the appearance of the 

melon; rind worm injury occurring on 

the ground spot is not scorable as 

serious damage. 

• AMS will remove all metric 

measurements from the standards. The 

revisions align the standards with 

current marketing trends. 

(Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621–1627.) 

Erin Morris, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–17814 Filed 8–18–21; 8:45 am] 

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