(a) General. The factor of character refers to the firmness, tenderness, and texture characteristics for the variety and type.

(b) Grade A. Canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, and chopped styles that have a good character may be given a score of 27 to 30 points. “Good character” means that, for the type, the olives have a fleshy texture characteristic for the variety and size; that not less than 95 percent, by count, of whole, pitted and halved olives and by weight of other style olives are practically uniform in texture and are tender but not soft. The remaining 5 percent may be soft but not excessively soft.

(c) Grade B. If canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced and chopped styles have a reasonably good character, a score of 24 to 26 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 good character” means that, for the type, the olives generally have a fleshy texture characteristic for the variety and size; that not less than 90 percent, by count, of whole, pitted and halved olives, and by weight of other style olives are practically uniform in texture and are tender but not soft. The 10 percent may be soft but not more than 1/2, or 5 percent, may be excessively soft.

(d) Grade C. If canned ripe olives of whole, pitted, halved, segmented, sliced, chopped and broken pitted styles have a fairly good character, a score of 21 to 23 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 good character” means that the olives generally have a fleshy texture characteristic for the variety and size; that not less than 80 percent, by count, of whole, pitted and halved olives and by weight of other style olives are practically uniform in texture and are tender but not soft. The remaining 20 percent may be soft but not more than 1/2, or 10 percent, may be excessively soft.

(e) Substandard (SStd). Canned ripe olives that fail to meet the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section may be given a score of 0 to 20 points and shall not be graded above Substandard, regardless of the total score for the product (this is a limiting rule).