General Information

Packing
All of the previously mentioned standards are enforced by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Random samples of apples are tested for colour, weight, pressure, sugar, grade and condition, before and after harvest to enforce state and federal requirements.

Washington apples are packed primarily into Extra Fancy and Fancy grades (both Washington and U.S.).  Approximately 70 percent of Red and Golden Delicious apples are Extra Fancy, 30 percent are Fancies.  A small portion of Red Delicious are packed as Fancy Standard Delicious, with as little as 25 percent colour, and a similar share of Golden Delicious are packed to a U.S. No. 1 grade that permits more russeting and other blemish defects.  Everything else goes to processing.

For export purposes, however, Extra Fancy and Fancy are the most commonly used grades — and many export markets use a fairly high percentage of Fancies because of the price differential.

Apple Sizes
Size Weight Diameter
48 396.9 g (14.0 oz) 9.23 cm (3.64")
56 340.2 g (12.0 oz) 8.94 cm (3.52")
64 297.7 g (10.5 oz) 8.64 cm (3.40")
72 263.7 g (9.3 oz) 8.36 cm (3.29")
80 238.1 g (8.4 oz) 8.10 cm (3.19")
88 215.5 g (7.6 oz) 7.75 cm (3.05")
100 189.9 g (6.7 oz) 7.44 cm (2.93")
125 153.1 g (5.4 oz) 6.99 cm (2.75")
138 136.1 g (4.8 oz) 6.81 cm (2.68")
150 127.6 g (4.5 oz) 6.65 cm (2.62")
163 116.2 g (4.1 oz) 6.45 cm (2.54")
175 107.7 g (3.8 oz) 6.25 cm (2.46")
198 96.4 g (3.4 oz) 6.07 cm (2.39")
216 87.9 g (3.1 oz) 5.87 cm (2.31")

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Washington Grades are more stringent

The hierarchy of grades from Washington, starting with the highest, is:

Washington Extra Fancy
U.S. Extra Fancy
Washington Fancy
U.S. Fancy
U.S. No. 1
U.S. No. 1 Hail

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Copyright© 2007 Washington Apple Commission