Pickle, canned mushroom grading terminology revised by USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has revised the U.S. standards for canned lima bean, canned mushrooms, pickles and green olives to remove the term “midget.”

AMS replaced “midget” with “petite” in the canned lima bean, canned mushroom, pickle and green olive standards.

AMS also replaced the two-term grading system (dual nomenclature) with a single term to describe each quality level in the canned lima bean, canned mushroom and green olive standards.

The final notice announcing the changes was published in the Federal Register on April 19, 2019. The changes go into effect on May 20, 2019.

For more information, contact Lindsay H. Mitchell at 540-361-1120 or lindsay.mitchell@usda.gov.