3728

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 179

under the Arbitration Act 1908, and the market value of the animal shall be determined upon the arbitration.

This notice takes effect from 3 December 1992.

Reason for this Notice

The Animal Health Board has recently carried out a major review of the Tuberculosis eradication scheme. It recommended, and the Director-General has agreed, that the compensation regime be changed to create incentives which encourage farmers to manage their herds, particularly their inward purchases, so as to minimise the risks of introducing tuberculosis to hitherto uninfected herds and districts.

Owners can ascertain whether their herds are in category A or category B by enquiry to their nearest MAF office.

Dated at Wellington this 30th day of October 1992.

R. BALLARD, Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries.
go10052

New Zealand Grown Fruit and Vegetables Regulations 1975

Standard Grade for the Export of Fresh Blueberries

Notice (Notice No. 5187, Ag. 12/2/14)

Pursuant to the New Zealand Grown Fruit and Vegetables Regulations 1975*, the Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries hereby gives notice that the standard grade for the export of fresh blueberries shall be set out in this notice.

Notice

1. Title—(1) This notice may be cited as the Standard Grade for the Export of Fresh Blueberries Notice 1992.

(2) This notice shall come into force on the day after the date of its notification in the New Zealand Gazette.

2. Interpretation—Unless the context otherwise required, terms and expressions used in this notice shall have the same meaning as in the New Zealand Grown Fruit and Vegetables Regulations 1975*. Certain of these definitions as applicable to fresh blueberries set out in the First Schedule to this notice, together with the definitions with terms specific to this notice.

3. Application of Notice—This notice determines the standard grade for fresh blueberries exported from New Zealand.

4. Title and Grade—The grade mark assigned to this standard grade shall be Class 1 (hereinafter referred to as “the grade”).

5. Definition for Produce—This grade applies to blueberries grown from varieties of Vaccinium spp to be supplied fresh to the consumer.

6. Provisions Concerning Grade Standard Requirements—The purpose of this standard is to define the quality requirements for fresh blueberries at the dispatching stage, after preparation and packaging.

a. The blueberries must be:
— free from pests and diseases and meet any quarantine and other legal requirements of the importing country;
— intact, whole fruit;
— sound;
— clean;
— reasonably well formed—typical of variety and not more than slightly misshapen;
— free from abnormal external moisture;
— free of foreign smell or taste.

b. The blueberries must have been carefully picked and be of a similar degree of maturity and colouring in the same line of produce. They must have matured sufficiently to complete the ripening process and be able to withstand handling, storage and transport.

c. The blueberries must be of good quality and have characteristics typical of the particular variety and be free of defects which:
(i) may significantly impair the general appearance or keeping quality of the fruit; or
(ii) are likely to make the fruit unattractive to the purchaser.

d. The flesh must be sound, but each blueberry is permitted a slight defect of shape, development or colouring and skin defects of a superficial nature such as those outlined in the Second Schedule to this notice.

7. Provisions Concerning Sizing—Sizing is determined by diameter of the berry.

The minimum size allowed for class 1 is 12 mm diameter.

8. Provisions concerning presentation—
   a. Uniformity:
   For the purposes of the grade the blueberries in each package must be uniform, of the same origin, quality, degree of ripeness and size.

The visible part of each punnet must be representative of the entire contents.

b. Packaging:
The materials must be new, clean and of a quality such as to avoid causing any external or internal damage to the produce.

Packages must be free of all foreign matter.

9. Provisions Concerning Marking—Pursuant to regulation 16 of the New Zealand Grown Fruit and Vegetables Regulations 1975* a tray is declared to be a package. Refer to “General Information” for requirements.

First Schedule

Definition of Terms:

“Colour” means fruit should be a uniform blue in accordance with the varietal characteristics.

“Bloom” means the white waxy powder on the surface of the fruit.

“Maturity” means fruit is not to be soft, overipe or wrinkled.

“Clean” means free from dirt, dust, frass or the other foreign material.

“To pack” means to arrange fruit in a package so that they are not loose or compressed to an extent likely to cause damage to fruit during handling or transport.

“Sound” means free from decay, rots, overmaturity, breakdown, freezing injury, damage and similar defects which may cause rapid loss of condition or rapid decay.

“Wet” means that the individual berry is wet from juice from crushed, leaking, or decayed berries.

“Disease” means Anthracnose and Botrytis.

“Cap stems” means the stem attaching the berry to the plant.

“Clusters” means where two or more berries can be joined by their cap stems.

“Packaging” means packs must be of the prescribed weight, be clean, new and well made, must have the growers identification number clearly shown and the grade.

Second Schedule

Allowance for Defects

Damaged Fruit:

“Damaged” includes cuts, punctures, torn scars, splits, cracks, hail damage chewed calyx, frost damage, surface russetting, deformed fruit, bruised fruit and any other readily noticeable damage.