Grade A Fancy and Organic Food
January 29, 2007 – 10:50 pm
I was having some Smuckers Strawberry Jam on my toast the other day at FirstWatch, and I noticed “Grade A Fancy” imprinted in the upper right corner.
“Grade A Fancy” Jam? What is the grading scale for Jam? Not to be outdone, there is “Grade A Fancy” syrup as well. Almost all food products have some type of grading system from the USDA, indicating the product quality as I found out with a quick search.
Feel free to browse on over to read about the USDA grading system for Canned and Frozen Fruits, but I included the summary below:
U.S. Grade A Grade A fruits are the very best, with an excellent color and uniform size, weight, and shape. Having the proper ripeness and few or no blemishes, fruits of this grade are excellent to use for special purposes where appearance and flavor are important.
Other names are often used to describe the quality grades of canned and frozen fruits—Grade A as “Fancy,” Grade B as “Choice,” and Grade C as “Standard.”
I understand that valid food inspection and certification is an important part of keeping our food safe and healthy.
Maybe I am more inspective than others, but how many of us actually read what’s on the labels these days? If the label would have listed “Choice” instead of “Fancy” would have it made any difference on my decision to use the jam? No, because few people, including myself, know the difference and the official grading system, and for anything less than Grade A the grade probably isn’t prominently listed.
Another hot topic? Organic food.
USDA allowed the use of an organic label for meat and poultry in 1999, well after other organic food labels were established, and these products are starting to catch up with the rest of the sector. Total U.S. sales of organic foods were estimated at almost $14 billion in 2005, about 2.5 percent of total U.S. retail food sales. U.S. organic sales have had annual growth rates of about 20 percent since the mid-1990s and are forecast to rise to $24.4 billion by 2010 (NBJ, 2006). Along with growing sales, organic products have shifted from being a lifestyle choice for a small share of consumers to being consumed at least occasionally by two-thirds of Americans (Hartman Group, 2004; Whole Foods Market, 2005).
20% annual growth rate? Now that is a label that people are looking for on packaging, front and center.
Technorati Tags: Grade A, Product Labels, Packaging, Organic, USDA
