[Federal Register: April 17, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 73)]
[Notices]
[Page 19168-19169]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17ap07-25]
[[Page 19168]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
United States Standards for Beans
AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: We plan to revise the U.S. standards for Beans to provide
applicants for service with an optional grade designation for bean
certification; and remove the requirements that the percentage of high
moisture and, in the case of Mixed beans, the percentage of each class
in the mixture be shown on the grade line.
DATES: We will consider comments that we receive by May 17, 2007.
ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on this notice. You may
submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: Send comments via electronic mail to
comments.gipsa@usda.gov.
Mail: Send hardcopy written comments to Tess Butler,
GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1647-S, Washington, DC
20250-3604.
Fax: Send comments by facsimile transmission to: (202)
690-2755.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver comments to: Tess
Butler, GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1647-S,
Washington, DC 20250-3604.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Instructions: All comments should refer to the date and
page number of this issue of the Federal Register.
Read Comments: All comments will be available for public
inspection in the above office during regular business hours (7 CFR
1.27(b)).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly A. Whalen at USDA, GIPSA,
FGIS, FMD, Suite 180, STOP 1404, 6501 Beacon Drive, Kansas City,
Missouri 64133; Telephone (816) 823-4648; Fax Number (816) 823-4644; e-
mail Beverly.A.Whalen@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (AMA), directs
and authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and improve
standards for agricultural products (7 U.S.C. 1622). These are
standards of quality, condition, quantity, grade, and packaging. The
intent of such standards is to encourage uniformity and consistency in
commercial practices.
We establish and maintain a variety of quality and grade standards
for agricultural commodities. These standards serve as the fundamental
starting point to define commodity quality in the domestic and global
marketplace. We provide official procedures for how inspectors
determine the various grading factors in supporting handbooks, such as
the Bean Handbook. The AMA standards and supporting procedures are
voluntary and widely used in private contracts, government procurement,
marketing communication, and, for some commodities, consumer
information.
Standards developed under the AMA include rice, whole dry peas,
split peas, feed peas, lentils, and beans. The U.S. standards for Whole
Dry Peas, Split Peas, Feed Peas, Lentils, and Beans do not appear in
the Code of Federal Regulations (although the process by which we
develop these standards is specified through the regulations in 7 CFR
868.102, Procedures for establishing and revising grade standards);
however, the standards are available on the GIPSA Web site at http://www.gipsa.usda.gov/GIPSA/webapp?area=home&subject=grpi&topic=sq-ous
and
by contacting the Field Management Division (FMD) at the above address.
We provide the official procedures for how inspectors determine the
various grading factors in various supporting handbooks, such as the
Bean Handbook, which you may view and print from the GIPSA Web site at
http://www.gipsa.usda.gov/GIPSA/webapp?area=home&subject=lr&topic=hb-bi
.
Optional Grade Designation and Certification Procedures
We work closely with the National Dry Bean Council (NDBC) and
others in the bean industry to examine the effectiveness of the U.S.
standards for Beans in today's marketing environment. It appears that
the current standards continue to meet consumer/processor needs;
however, both the rice and grain industries have optional certification
procedures. We have determined that these certification procedures
could be beneficial to the bean industry, as well.
Currently, inspectors certify beans offered for inspection as a
specific quality (U.S. grade) for example, U.S. No. 2 Pinto Beans.
Certifying a specific grade is commonly referred to in the rice and
grain industries as ``Option 1'' grade designation. This works well
most of the time, however, there are exceptions. At times, sellers find
when preparing to load beans for shipment that the supply of a
particular grade of bean may be insufficient to meet the quality and
quantity requirements specified in the sales contract. When this
happens, the seller may find it necessary to ship beans of a better
quality. However, current inspection procedures do not allow the
flexibility to describe or certify superior quality beans as being of a
lower quality. If the lot presented for inspection is not uniform in
quality for the declared grade, the inspector certifies each portion
separately according to quality. That is, if a consignment consists of
both U.S. No. 1 and 2 Pinto beans, current procedure requires that the
quantity representing each of the different qualities receive separate
certification. Such certification may not meet the terms of sale for
the contract.
The U.S. standards for rice and grains offer an alternative
approach that is termed ``Option 2'' grade designation. When a contract
specifies an Option 2 grade designation, the applicant may specifically
request Option 2 certification. Under Option 2 certification, there is
no limitation placed on the amount of better quality grain in the lot.
When a lot meets or is of better quality than the declared grade,
inspectors include the term ``or better'' immediately following the
numerical or sample grade designation.
We would like to offer the Option 2 grade designation and
certification approach for beans. Under such an approach, beans that
are a better quality than that specified by the contract would be
certified as a specific grade ``or better'' (for example, U.S. No. 2,
or better, Pinto Beans). The applicant for inspection can obtain the
optional certification procedure by requesting it on the application
for inspection. The applicant would file the request for the optional
certification prior to the beginning of inspection so the inspector
knows how to certify the lot. We believe that Option 2 grade
designation and certification will better align the bean industry with
the rice and grain industries, provide sellers with the flexibility to
ship beans of better quality, and provide buyers with the desirable
option of receiving better quality.
High Moisture and Mixed Beans
We also plan to remove the requirements that the percentage of high
moisture and, in the case of Mixed beans, the percentage of each class
in the mixture be shown on the grade-line. The special grade
designation ``High moisture'' is applicable to all classes of
[[Page 19169]]
beans containing over 18.0 percent moisture. While we will continue to
show the special grade designation High moisture'' on the grade line,
we intend to eliminate the requirement that the percentage of moisture
be shown on the grade line. Rather, we plan to enter the percentage of
moisture, if applicable, in the ``Results'' section of the certificate.
Additionally, for the class of Mixed beans, we currently require
inspectors to include the breakdown of the different classes, in order
of predominance, on the grade line of the certificate. Instead of
showing this information on the grade line, we plan to enter such
information in the ``Results'' section of the certificate. This
approach will not change the grade of the product. We intend for these
changes to improve the readability of the certificate. The grade line
will provide the grade designation, which includes special grade
designations, when applicable, and other related information will be
provided in the Remarks section of the certificate. Further, this
change in the U.S. standards for Beans will better align certification
requirements in beans with other graded commodities such as rice.
Comments
We are requesting comments for 30 days. All comments received
within the comment period will be made part of the public record we
maintain, will be available to the public for review, and will be
considered before we take final action.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621-1627.
James E. Link,
Administrator, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-7242 Filed 4-16-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-KD-P