[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 50, Volume 7]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 50CFR260.21]

[Page 659-660]
 
                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES
 
  CHAPTER II--NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 
           ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
 
PART 260_INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION--Table of Contents
 
  Subpart A_Inspection and Certification of Establishments and Fishery 
                     Products for Human Consumption
 
Sec. 260.21  Basis of inspection and grade or compliance determination.

    (a) Inspection service shall be performed on the basis of the 
appropriate U.S. standards for grades of processed products, Federal, 
Military, Veterans Administration or other government agency 
specifications, written contract specification, or any written 
specification or instruction which is approved by the Secretary.
    (b) Unless otherwise approved by the Director compliance with such 
grade standards, specifications, or instructions shall be determined by 
evaluating the product, or sample, in accordance with the requirements 
of such standards, specifications, or instructions: Provided, That when 
inspection for quality is based on any U.S. grade standard which 
contains a scoring system the grade to be assigned to a lot is the grade 
indicated by the average of the total scores of the sample units: 
Provided further, That:
    (1) Such sample complies with the applicable standards of quality 
promulgated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;
    (2) Such sample complies with the product description;
    (3) Such sample meets the indicated grade with respect to factors of 
quality which are not rated by score points; and
    (4) With respect to those factors of quality which are rated by 
score points, each of the following requirements is met:
    (i) None of the sample units falls more than one grade below the 
indicated grade because of any quality factor to which a limiting rule 
applies;
    (ii) None of the sample units falls more than 4 score points below 
the minimum total score for the indicated grade; and
    (iii) The number of sample units classed as deviants does not exceed 
the applicable acceptance number indicated in the sampling plans 
contained in Sec. 260.61. A ``deviant,'' as used in this paragraph, 
means a sample unit that falls into the next grade below the indicated 
grade but does not score more than 4 points below the minimum total 
score for the indicated grade.
    (5) If any of the provisions contained in paragraphs (b)(3) and (4) 
of this section are not met the grade is determined by considering such 
provisions in connection with succeedingly lower

[[Page 660]]

grades until the grade of the lot, if assignable, is established.