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Notices Federal Register

47614 

Vol. 86, No. 163 

Thursday, August 26, 2021 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Doc. No. AMS–FGIS–21–0009] 

United States Standards for Beans 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of final action. 

SUMMARY: This action is being taken 

under the authority of the Agricultural 

Marketing Act of 1946, as amended, 

(AMA). The United States Department 

of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) is adding the 

new criterion, Cotyledon Damage, in the 

Bean Inspection Handbook pertaining to 

the class chickpea/garbanzo beans in the 

U.S. Standards for Beans. Stakeholders 

in the dry bean processing/handling 

industry requested AMS to revise the 

Bean Inspection Handbook to include 

the criterion for the new damage factor, 

Cotyledon Damage, in chickpeas/ 

garbanzo beans. 

DATES: Applicability date: August 26, 

2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Loren Almond, USDA AMS; Telephone: 

(816) 702–3925; email: 

Loren.L.Almond@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of the AMA (7 U.S.C. 1621– 

1627), as amended, AMS establishes 

and maintains a variety of quality and 

grade standards for agricultural 

commodities that serve as a 

fundamental starting point to define 

commodity quality in the domestic and 

global marketplace. 

Standards developed under the AMA 

include those for rice, whole dry peas, 

split peas, feed peas, lentils, and beans. 

United States standards for whole dry 

peas, split peas, feed peas, lentils and 

beans no longer appear in the Code of 

Federal Regulations but are now 

maintained by USDA–AMS-Federal 

Grain Inspection Service (AMS–FGIS). 

The U.S. Standards for beans are 

voluntary and widely used in private 

contracts, government procurement, 

marketing communication, and for some 

commodities, consumer information. 

Bean standards facilitate bean 

marketing and define U.S. bean quality 

in the domestic and global marketplace. 

These standards define commonly used 

industry terms; contain basic principles 

governing the application of standards, 

such as the type of sample used for a 

particular quality analysis; provide the 

basis of determination; and specify 

grades and grade requirements. Official 

procedures for determining grading 

factors are provided in the Bean 

Inspection Handbook. Together, grading 

standards and testing procedures allow 

buyers and sellers to communicate 

quality requirements, compare bean 

quality using equivalent forms of 

measurement, and assist in price 

discovery. 

AMS engages in outreach with 

stakeholders to ensure commodity 

standards maintain relevance to the 

modern market. Bean industry 

stakeholders include the USA Dry Pea 

and Lentil Council (USADPLC). 

The United States Standards for Beans 

and official inspection procedures for 

beans in the Bean Inspection Handbook 

are available on the AMS public 

website. The United States Standards 

for Beans were last revised in 2017. 

Currently, under bean inspection 

criteria, white chalky or wafer-like spots 

are not considered damage in chickpea/ 

garbanzo beans and there is not a 

definition or factor for Cotyledon 

Damage in Chickpea/Garbanzo Beans. 

Stakeholders stated that such spots in 

chickpea/garbanzo beans negatively 

affect bean flavor and specifically asked 

AMS to revise bean damage factors to 

include the addition of a new criterion, 

Cotyledon Damage, in the class 

Chickpea/Garbanzo Beans. 

Addition of Cotyledon Damage Factor 

in the Class Chickpea/Garbanzo Beans 

Stakeholders recommended that AMS 

revise the Bean Inspection Handbook 

criteria to include the new damage 

factor, Cotyledon Damage, in the class 

Chickpea/Garbanzo Beans. AMS and 

stakeholders worked collaboratively to 

define and state the criteria for 

Cotyledon Damage in Chickpea/ 

Garbanzo Beans. Additionally, these 

changes were recommended to AMS by 

stakeholders to facilitate current 

marketing practices. 

Comment Review 

AMS published a Notice in the 

Federal Register on April 22, 2021 (86 

FR 21268), inviting interested parties to 

comment on the proposed revisions to 

the U.S. Standards for Beans. AMS 

received two comments in response to 

the notice that strongly supported the 

proposed revision. AMS received no 

comments opposing the proposed 

revision. AMS believes this revision 

will facilitate inspections, better reflect 

current marketing practices, be cost 

efficient, and facilitate purchasing and 

selling of chickpea/garbanzo beans. 

Accordingly, AMS is making no changes 

to the revised chickpea/garbanzo bean 

inspection methods as proposed. The 

revision to chickpea/garbanzo bean 

inspection is effective August 1, 2021. 

The Bean Inspection Handbook will be 

revised to incorporate the revision. 

Final Action 

AMS is revising the Chickpea/ 

Garbanzo bean inspection criteria by 

amending the Bean Inspection 

Handbook to include the definition and 

criteria requirements for Cotyledon 

Damage in Chickpea/Garbanzo Beans. 

The new damage factor will be defined 

as, ‘‘Chickpea/Garbanzo beans or pieces 

of Chickpea/Garbanzo beans with a 

white chalky or wafer-like spot that 

penetrates the cotyledon (singularly or 

in combination) that meets or exceeds 

the minimum coverage shown on VRI– 

Bean–5.1 Cotyledon Damage (Chickpea/ 

Garbanzo).’’ The criteria also specify 

that damage portion size requirements 

for chickpea/garbanzo beans are 

approximately 250 grams for smallseeded beans and 500 grams for largeseeded beans. Further, suspect beans 

must be scraped to confirm the spot 

penetrates into the cotyledon and is of 

a size to constitute damage, per the 

definition. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621–1627. 

Bruce Summers, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18321 Filed 8–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 


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