(a) U.S. Grade A is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that has a good flavor, that has a good color, that is practically free from defects, that has a good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 90 points: Provided, That such canned ripe olives may have a reasonably good color if the total score is not less than 90 points; and further Provided, That in the styles of whole and pitted olives, the variation in diameters does not exceed 4 mm, and of the 90 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more than 3 mm.

(b) U.S. Grade B is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that has a good flavor, that has a reasonably good color, that is reasonably free from defects, that has a reasonably good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 80 points: Provided, That for the styles of whole and pitted olives, the variation in diameters does not exceed 8 mm, and of the 80 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more than 4 mm.

(c) U.S. Grade C is the quality of canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, chopped, and broken pitted styles that has a reasonably good flavor, that has a fairly good color, that is fairly free from defects, that has a fairly good character; and that for those factors which are rated in accordance with the scoring system outlined in this subpart, the total score is not less than 70 points; Provided, That for the styles of whole and pitted olives, of the 60 percent, by count, of the most uniform in size, the diameter of the largest does not exceed the diameter of the smallest by more that 4 mm.

(d) Substandard is the quality of canned ripe olives of any style that fail to meet the applicable requirements for U.S. Grade C.

[42 FR 38585, July 29, 1977. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981, and amended at 48 FR 41013, Sept. 13, 1983]