The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is revising the U.S. Standards for Watermelon to provide a common language for trade.
AMS is establishing a total tolerance for Anthracnose and decay in the U.S. No. 1 and U.S. No. 2 grades; adjusting the range of average weight from 20-42 to 10-34 pounds to align with current marketing trends; adding sunburn as a permanent defect; revising scoring guides for hail, rind worm injury, scars, hollow heart, sunburn, and transit rubs; removing metric measurements from the standard; and making minor editorial changes.
The revisions were published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2021, and become effective on September 20, 2021.
Copies of the current U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelon are available on the AMS website.
For more information, contact David Horner at 540-361-1128 or Dave.Horner@usda.gov.
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