(a) General. The factor of absence of defects refers to the degree of freedom from harmless extraneous vegetable material, stems, and portions thereof, blemishes, wrinkles, mutilated olives, and from any other defects which affect the appearance or edibility of the product.

(b) Definition of defects—(1) Blemishes mean dark-colored surface marks in either ripe type or green-ripe olives which may or may not penetrate into the flesh. Olives or pieces of olives affected by blemishes are classified as follows:

(i) Minor blemishes mean surface discolorations on olives or pieces of olives which individually or collectively materially affect the appearance of the unit.

(ii) Major blemishes mean surface discolorations or black flesh (oxidized) on olives or pieces of olives which may or may not be associated with a soft texture below the skin and which individually or collectively seriously affect the appearance or edibility of the unit.

(iii) Severe blemishes mean dark brown, dark purple, or black surface areas on olives or pieces of olives of the green-ripe type; or any other blemishes, whether or not specifically defined, which severely affect the appearance or edibility of the unit.

(2) Blowout refers to a soft pitted olive in which the pit has been pushed out instead of cut out leaving an irregular ring of flesh that materially affects its appearance.

(3) Broken piece in halved, segmented, and sliced style olives means any piece of olive flesh that appears to be less than three-fourths of a full unit. Also included are poorly cut units and end slices less than one-half the average size slice.

(4) Cross pitted refers to olives pitted along an axis other than the stem-flower axis. A defect is a unit where the angle of these two axes exceeds 45 degrees.

(5) Harmless extraneous vegetable material. Harmless extraneous vegetable material (HEVM), harmless extraneous material (HEM), and extraneous vegetable material (EVM), are synonymous terms and mean any vegetable substance that is harmless.

(6) Mechanically damaged means a unit in whole, pitted, and halved styles that is punctured, cut or damaged by means other than pitting so that its appearance is materially affected.

(7) Misshapen refers to an olive that does not have a normal shape for a given variety.

(8) Mutilated refers to an olive in whole or pitted styles that is so pitter-torn or damaged by other means that the entire pit cavity is exposed or the appearance of the olive is seriously affected.

(9) Obvious split pit means a pit in an olive that can be determined visually as split.

(10) Pitter damage means a loss of skin and flesh from a pitted olive caused by the pitter on the cut end exceeding the area of a circle 3 mm in diameter but is not mutilated.

(11) Plunger damage means a loss of skin and flesh from a pitted olive equal to or exceeding the area of a circle 5 mm in diameter.

(12) Stem means a stem that measures 3 mm or more from the shoulder of the olive. Stems are classified as follows:

(i) Minor stem is a stem that measures more than 3 mm but not more than 4 mm from the shoulder of the olive.

(ii) Major stem is a stem that measures more than 4 mm from the shoulder of the olive.

(iii) Detached stem, when it measures 4 mm or more, is a defect which shall be scored as a minor stem for whole pitted, halved, and broken pitted style olives and a major stem for segmented, sliced, and chopped style olives.

(13) Wrinkles are grooves 0.5 mm or more in width. Classification of wrinkles shall be determined immediately after removing surface moisture and any increase in wrinkles due to dehydration after removing from the container shall not be considered. Olives or pieces of olives affected by wrinkles are classified as follows:

(i) Minor wrinkles are wrinkles which collectively do not more than materially affect the appearance of the unit.

(ii) Major wrinkles are wrinkles which collectively more than materially affect the appearance of the unit.

(c) Grade A. Canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that are practically free from defects may be given a score of 36 to 40 points. “Practically free from defects” means that any defects present, but not specifically limited in Table IV, may not more than slightly affect the appearance or edibility of the olives; and, in addition, specified defects may be present in all other styles except “broken pitted” not to exceed the allowances for grade A provided in Table IV.

(d) Grade B. If canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles are reasonably free from defects, a score of 32 to 35 points may be given. Canned ripe olives that fall into this classification shall not be graded above U.S. Grade B regardless of the total score for the product (this is a limiting rule). “Reasonably free from defects” means that any defects present but not specifically limited in Table V may not more than materially affect the appearance or edibility of the olives; and in addition, specified defects may be present in all other styles except “broken pitted” not to exceed the allowances for grade B provided in Table V.

(e) Grade C. If canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, chopped, and broken pitted styles are fairly free from defects, a score of 28 to 31 points may be given. Canned ripe olives that fall into this classification shall not be graded above U.S. Grade C, regardless of the total score for the product (this is a limiting rule). “Fairly free from defects” means that any defects present but not specifically limited in Table VI may more than materially affect the appearance and edibility of the olives; and in addition, specified defects may be present in all other styles not to exceed the allowances for grade C provided in Table VI.

(f) Substandard (SStd.). Canned ripe olives that fail to meet the requirements of paragraph (e) of this section may be given a score of 0 to 27 points and shall not be graded above Substandard, regardless of the total score for the product (this is a limiting rule).