[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR51.2]

[Page 329-331]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
                        DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 51--FRESH FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND OTHER PRODUCTS \1, 2\ (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS)--Table of Contents

                        Subpart--Regulations \1\
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Sec. 51.2  Terms defined.

    Words in the regulations in this part in the singular form shall be 
deemed to import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. For 
the purposes of the regulations in this part, unless the context 
otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the following 
meanings:
    (a) Act. ``Act'' means the applicable provisions of the Agricultural 
Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087 et seq.) as amended; (7 U.S.C. 1621 
et seq.) or

[[Page 330]]

any other act of Congress conferring like authority.
    (b) Administrator. ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
Agricultural Marketing Service.
    (c) Applicant. ``Applicant'' means any interested party who has 
applied for inspection service under the regulations in this part.
    (d) Carlot. ``Carlot''means any number of containers which contain a 
product of the same kind located on or unloaded from the same conveyance 
and available for inspection at the same time and location: Provided, 
That:
    (1) Product of the same carlot shall be considered to be separate 
lots whenever the product differs markedly as to quality and/or 
condition, and such differences are definitely associated with certain 
brands, varieties, sizes or container markings;
    (2) If the applicant requests more than one inspection certificate 
covering portions of the same carlot, the quantity of the carlot covered 
by each certificate shall be considered to be a separate carlot;
    (3) If product of the same carlot is packed in more than one size or 
type container, each such size or type shall be considered to be a 
separate lot.
    (e) Carlot equivalent. ``Carlot equivalent'' shall be the quantity 
of an individual product customarily loaded in common highway trailers.
    (f) Condition. (1) ``Condition'' means the relative degree of 
soundness of a product which may affect its merchantability and includes 
those factors which are subject to change and may result from, but not 
necessarily limited to, age, improper handling, storage or lack of 
refrigeration.
    (2) Examples of condition factors include maturity or stage of 
ripeness; state of freshness, such as crispness, tenderness, or 
toughness; wilting; shriveling or flabbiness; mechanical injuries 
resulting from improper handling after packing; progressive 
pathological, physiological, and virus diseases, including fungal and 
bacterial roots; and freezing damage which may occur in transit or 
storage; or any other factor which may occur, develop, or progress in 
the marketing channels.
    (g) Agricultural Marketing Service. ``Agricultural Marketing 
Service'' means the Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department.
    (h) Department. ``Department'' means the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.
    (i) Federal-State Inspection Agency. ``Federal-State Inspection 
Agency'' means any State agency, business association or trade 
organization, private firm, or other person or corporation with which 
the Department has entered into a cooperative agreement for inspection 
service.
    (j) Grade. ``Grade'' means a class or rank of quality.
    (k) Inspector. ``Inspector'' means any employee of the Department 
authorized by the Secretary or any other person licensed by the 
Secretary, to investigate, sample, inspect, and certify, in accordance 
with the regulations in this part, to any interested party the quality, 
quantity and/or condition of any fresh product covered in this part, and 
to perform related duties in connection with the inspection service.
    (l) Inspection service. ``Inspection service'' means:
    (1) The Service established and conducted under the regulations in 
this part for the determination and certification or other 
identification as to the grade, the quality and/or condition of fresh 
fruits or vegetables and related products including the condition of 
container.
    (2) Performance by an inspector of any related services such as 
reporting the temperatures of loads or lots of fresh products.
    (3) To observe conditions under which a product is being packed, to 
observe plant sanitation as a prerequisite to inspection of the packed 
product either on a continuous or periodic basis, or checkload the 
inspected product in connection with the marketing of the product.
    (4) The issuance of inspection certificates or reports relating to 
paragraphs (j)(1), (2), and (3) of this section.
    (m) Interested party. ``Interested party'' means any person who has 
a financial interest in the product for which inspection is requested.
    (n) Person. ``Person'' means any individual, partnership, 
association, business trust, corporation, any organized group of persons 
(whether incorporated or not), the United States (including,

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but not limited to, any corporate agencies thereof), and any State, 
county, or municipal government, any common carrier, and any authorized 
agent of any of the foregoing.
    (o) Packing plant. ``Packing plant'' means the premises, buildings, 
structures, and equipment including but not limited to, machines, 
utensils, fixtures, employed or used with respect to preparation and 
packing the product.
    (p) Quality. ``Quality'' means the combination of the inherent 
properties or attributes of a product which determines its relative 
degree of excellence.
    (q) Regulations. ``Regulations'' means the regulations in this 
subpart.
    (r) Sample. ``Sample'' means any number of sample units to be used 
for inspection.
    (s) Sample unit. ``Sample unit'' means a container and/or its entire 
contents, a portion of the contents of a container or other unit of a 
commodity, or a composite mixture of a commodity to be used for 
inspection.
    (t) Sampling. ``Sampling'' means the act of selecting samples of a 
commodity for the purpose of inspection under the regulations in this 
part.
    (u) Secretary. ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Agriculture of 
the United States or any officer or employee of the Agricultural 
Marketing Service to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to 
whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

[32 FR 15066, Nov. 1, 1967. Redesignated at 42 FR 32514, June 27, 1977, 
and further redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981; 56 FR 55799, 
Oct. 30, 1991]