United States Standards for Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas, and Lentils

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration

United States Standards for Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas, and

Lentils

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA.

ACTION: Notice with Opportunity to Comment.

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SUMMARY: The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration

(GIPSA) is proposing to revise the United States Standards for Whole

Dry Peas, Split Peas and Lentils. Specifically, GIPSA is proposing to

eliminate the classes Persian and Mixed lentils, and to establish a new

class, Miscellaneous peas, and a new grading factor for lentils,

Inconspicuous Admixture. GIPSA is proposing to change these standards

to facilitate the marketing of peas and lentils.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 15, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted to Sharon Vassiliades at

GIPSA, USDA, STOP 3649, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC

20250-3649; faxed to (202) 720-4628; or e-mailed to

[email protected].

All comments received will be made available for public inspection

at the above address during regular business hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)).

The current United States Standards for Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas

and Lentils, along with the proposed changes, is available either

through the above addresses or by accessing GIPSA's Home Page on the

Internet at: www.usda.gov/gipsa/strulreg/standard.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Sharon Vassiliades at (202)

720-1738.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 203(c) of the Agricultural

Marketing Act of 1946, as amended, directs and authorizes the

Secretary of Agriculture ``to develop and improve standards of

quality, condition, quantity, grade, and packaging and recommend

and demonstrate such standards in order to encourage uniformity and

consistency in commercial practices * * *.'' GIPSA is committed to

carrying out this authority in a manner that facilitates the

marketing of agricultural commodities and makes copies of official

standards available upon request. The United States Standards for

Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas and Lentils do not appear in the Code of

Federal Regulations but are maintained by the U.S. Department of

Agriculture.

GIPSA is proposing to change the United States Standards for Whole

Dry Peas, Split Peas and Lentils using the procedures it published in

the Federal Register on February 13, 1997 (62 FR 6705). Specifically,

GIPSA is proposing to eliminate the classes Persian and Mixed lentils,

and to establish a new class, Miscellaneous peas, and a new grading

factor for lentils, Inconspicuous Admixture.

GIPSA representatives are continually meeting with pea and lentil

producers, processors, handlers, and merchandisers concerning the U.S.

Standards for Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas, and Lentils in order to gain

a better understanding of their views on changes needed to improve the

existing standards. On the basis of comments received and other

available information, GIPSA is proposing several changes to the

standards.

Classes of Lentils

The present U.S. Standards for Lentils provide for three classes of

lentils: Lentils, Persian Lentils, and Mixed

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Lentils. The class Lentils is defined as ``All lentils of the Chilean

type, with not more than 2.0 percent of Persian lentils.'' Persian

lentils are defined as ``All lentils of the Persian type, with not more

than 2.0 percent of Chilean lentils.'' Mixed lentils are ``Any mixture

of lentils consisting predominately of Chilean lentils or of Persian

lentils, which contains more than 2.0 percent of lentils other than

those of the predominating class.''

All lentils grown and marketed in the United States, regardless of

their size, shape, or color, are considered to be of the Chilean type

and classed as ``Lentils.'' Furthermore, the class names ``Persian

lentils'' and ``Mixed lentils'' are neither domestically nor

internationally recognized terms. With the recent introduction of

small-seeded Chilean types, there is an increased risk that such

lentils may be misclassified as Persian lentils. This could confuse

lentil importers and needlessly disrupt the market. To provide greater

uniformity within the U.S. lentil standards, GIPSA is proposing to

eliminate the classes Persian and Mixed lentils.

Inconspicuous Admixture

Lentils--like most other crops--are susceptible to field

contamination by volunteer crops and weeds. Most such weeds can be

controlled with herbicide solutions. However, even if reasonable

measures are taken, some weed seeds, volunteer grain, and other

undesirable plant material are usually harvested with the lentils.

Small and large seeded weeds/grain can be easily removed from the

thresher-run lentils (i.e., dockage) and seeds that are the same size

as lentils can also be removed with relative ease (i.e., foreign

material). But, seeds that are the same size, shape, and color as

lentils are very difficult to virtually impossible to remove.

Fortunately, packers, exporters, and end-users do not view seeds that

closely mimic the appearance of lentils, such as Vicia sativa (commonly

known as vetch, mimics, or rogue lentils ), as being as detrimental to

quality as dockage or foreign material. Hence, the U.S. lentil industry

feels that such seeds should not be considered as foreign material, but

as a separate factor.

The U.S. lentil industry is committed to quality and has encouraged

producers to take all appropriate action to control the spread of

lentil-mimics. To facilitate this process and to ensure that lentil

quality is determined accurately, GIPSA is proposing to establish a new

factor, Inconspicuous Admixture. This factor will be defined as ``Any

seed which is difficult to distinguish from a lentil, including, but

not limited to Vicia sativa.''

U.S. Standards for Whole Dry Peas

The present U.S. Standards for Peas provide for five classes of

peas: Smooth Green Dry peas, Smooth Yellow Dry peas, Wrinkled Dry peas,

Winter Dry peas, and Mixed Dry peas. In recent years, several new types

of peas have been developed or introduced that do not readily fit

within any of the current classes. To better facilitate the marketing

of these peas, GIPSA is proposing to revise the U.S. Standards for

Whole Dry Peas to establish a new class, Miscellaneous peas.

Accordingly, peas that are not otherwise classified in the standards

would be classified and designated according to the commonly accepted

commercial name for the pea, e.g., Marrowfat peas. These proposed

standard changes were recommended to us and reviewed by the affected

trade. Therefore, GIPSA is publishing these proposed standard changes

with a 30-day comment period which will provide a sufficient amount of

time for interested persons to comment on changes to the standards.

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.

Dated: August 8, 1997.

James R. Baker,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97-21570 Filed 8-14-97; 8:45 am]

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