USDA’s fresh produce inspectors working at terminal markets nationwide are increasingly using a small but effective technological tool to confirm the quality of daily shipments: a digital camera.

The Fresh Products Branch of the Agricultural Marketing Service began in 1997 to equip inspectors in market offices with digital cameras and enhanced computer technology that lets them take and transmit sharp, detailed color images of produce or containers.

With digital cameras, users need not wait for film to be developed, printed, and scanned. They save images to a flashcard--similar to a computer diskette--which can be downloaded into a computer. Once the images are in the digital format, they can be viewed, printed, or transmitted along the Internet to anyone in the world.

AMS adopted the technology principally to provide additional inspection services to the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, but it has turned out to be very useful for training inspectors and improving communication between headquarters and the field when trying to identify defects in fresh produce.

Rita Bibbs-Booth, section head for fresh products support services in AMS’s Fruit and Vegetable Programs, said “This technology provides a quick, visual confirmation of product appearance and defects, damage from shifted loads, brands and container markings, and container conditions.”

AMS has been steadily introducing digital imaging services at its federal terminal market field offices. Located in or near major cities, terminal markets are central distribution points for buyers and sellers to negotiate the price of produce shipped by truck and rail from farms and packing houses. Hundreds of tons and thousands of dollars worth of food pass through these markets on their way to restaurants, cafeterias, and dining tables.

Because nearly all the food is perishable, bargaining is brisk.

“Let me get closer. Now focus. Say 'cheese,’ all you squash. Got it!” concludes Gary Crane, an agricultural commodity grader at AMS’s market office in Hunts Point, N.Y., as he uses a digital camera to take a close-up snapshot of some recently-arrived zucchini squash. The purpose is to capture--on a digital color image--a measure of the quality of that load of produce. The image will then be loaded on the Internet, where it can be accessed by a would-be buyer and the seller of that produce, in order to help them negotiate a price, depending on a fair, objective--and visual--assessment of its quality. It’s a new technique AMS has implemented to help provide additional inspection services. --Photo by Bill Raker

“Sellers seek the highest price the market will bear for their loads of food, while buyers look to bargain for the lowest price,” explained Bob Keeney, deputy administrator for AMS’s Fruit and Vegetable Programs. “To arbitrate, the Agency provides a valuable service: trained inspectors who can certify a fair, objective assessment of the quality of the product for sale.”

AMS’s inspectors typically begin their days around 5 a.m. and, by noon, they have graded dozens of lots of every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable. Their knowledge of a vast variety of fresh produce--and what good produce should look like--is encyclopedic.

For a fee based on an hourly rate, AMS graders issue written certificates that buyers can show sellers when deciding on a purchase price.

Digital imaging is not intended to replace a written description on a government-issued grading certificate, but now there is instant visual evidence to back up the inspector. While instant film cameras have been used over the years, the arrival of computers and the Internet made it possible to transmit color images from the market to a supplier’s office anywhere in the nation or the world in a matter of seconds. To help make a case during a negotiation, either a buyer or a seller can call for the AMS digital imaging service.

Eugene Fabio, president of J. Bonafede & Sons in Chelsea, Mass., gave an example of how effective the service can be:

“I remember getting a load of bananas and I asked for an inspection of the color and condition. Color with bananas is a big deal. They’re supposed to be green,” Fabio said, “but they arrived yellow.” At Fabio’s request, an AMS grader used a digital camera to record the over-ripe load. “The grader took eight to 10 good pictures, like any good photographer would. The inspector posted them on an Internet site, and within an hour I was on the phone with the grower from the Dominican Republic and the owner of the packing company, who was in Italy, and all three of us at the same time were looking at the images that were visually clear.”

As a result, Fabio was able to persuade the owner to substantially reduce the asking price for the bananas.

AMS inspectors undergo thorough training in the use of the digital technology. Kathy Staley, the acting officer in charge of the AMS market office in Hunts Point, N.Y., said that the station’s four cameras are rotated among employees.

David Horner, an agricultural commodity grader at AMS’s market office in Pittsburgh, gently turns a fresh tomato, prior to taking its picture using a digital camera. But it’s not part of some photo contest; instead, he is producing a digital color image of that tomato as a representation of the box of tomatoes in front of him. He’ll then load that image on the Internet, where potential buyers--and its seller--can view an accurate image of that tomato’s quality, before they settle on a price for that load of produce. --Photo by Jim Prady

Since the Office of Inspector General revealed its investigation into allegations of bribery and fraudulent grading at the Hunts Point terminal market in October 1999, AMS has instituted numerous reform measures to improve grading services at its market offices around the country. Among the reforms was the agency’s decision to promote more widespread and regular use of its digital imaging service as additional proof of the quality of an inspected shipment.

“My office tries to show receivers and shippers the positive side of what this service can do for them,” said James Prady, officer in charge of the AMS market office in Pittsburgh. “Digital imaging is good not just for showing defects, but also the good grades.”

Susan Taylor, the officer in charge of the AMS market office in Boston, said that to increase the number of requests for digital imaging, inspectors need to watch for opportunities to suggest the service to customers, and especially when the images can improve on a written grade.

Robin Chilton, the officer in charge of the AMS market office in San Francisco, said her inspectors try to increase customer interest in digital imaging by practicing a long-respected sales technique: offering free samples. She tells her inspectors to “be visible with the camera. Arouse curiosity.”

Larry Lace, chief of AMS’s Fresh Products Branch, said the digital imaging service is now available in 12 of its 38 federal market offices nationwide.

“Our administrator, Kathleen Merrigan, has set an ambitious goal for us to place digital cameras in every one of our terminal market offices and getting our employees fully trained in their use by the end of calendar year 2000,” Lace said.

Merrigan said she is enthusiastic about the potential of digital technology. “Any service we can provide that will bring fairness and transparency to the marketplace is worth investing in,” she said.

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