RED CABBAGE QUALITY STANDARDS

Introduction

Good-quality produce will be easily recognized, but may have difficulty in defining it. "Quality" may mean different things to different people. Factors such as texture, flavor, color, size, shape, scarring, bruising, presence of insects or insect marks, diseases, shelf life or keeping quality, freshness and cleanliness are all components of quality. Vegetables, including red cabbage should be clean, fresh, well sized, uniform in color, shape and size, as well as being succulent and not obviously fibrous, and free of blemishes. These grade standards are available for use by producers, suppliers, buyers, and consumers. As in the case of other standards for grades of fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, and specialty crops, these standards are designed to facilitate orderly marketing by providing a convenient basis for buying and selling.

Buyers usually use freshness and general appearance of the produce as their main criteria of quality. Many growers do not fully appreciate the role that quality plays in the economics of a vegetable enterprise. However, a glance at market reports clearly shows that prices for any particular product, at any specific time, vary tremendously. This is largely due to differences in the quality of the produce being offered for sale. The discriminating buyer is willing to pay a premium for good quality, and rightly so. It has a longer shelf-life, which means there is more time available to resell the produce, and less wastage. The buyer also generally has a quicker turnover and obtains a better price, because the product has more eye-appeal. The consumer prefers blemish-free produce that will keep longer shelf life too.

This module is therefore compiled to meet the following objectives:

To empower farmers to produce quality red cabbage that meets the market demands for increased income
To ensure that farmers observe the stipulated quality and standards for safe and nutritious red cabbage

Figure 1 Quality Red cabbage packaged for sale

Common Standards

i. SCOPE OF THE STANDARD

Rwanda standards Specifies the requirements for fresh red cabbage, botanical name Brassica oleracea or B. oleracea var. capitata F. rubra, is a variety of white cabbage and a descendent of three distinct cabbage types within the Brassica family tobe supplied fresh to the consumer, red cabbage for industrial processing being excluded.

ii. APPLICATION OF STANDARD

The purpose of the standard is to define the quality requirements for produce at the market control stage after preparation and packing. However, if applied at stages after point of sale produce may show in relation to the requirements of the standard:

i) A slight lack of freshness and turgidity

ii) A slight deterioration due to their development and their tendency to perish.

The holder/seller of produce may not display such produce or offer them for sale, or deliver or market them in any manner other than in conformity with this standard. The Holder/seller shall be responsible for observing such conformity

Terms And Definitions

Under the terms and definitions the following shall apply

Well-trimmed:having not more than six wrapper leave
Reasonably firm: Not soft and of a reasonable weight for its size, but may have considerable open spaces between leaves in the lower portion of head.
Damage: Any injury or defect, which materially affects the appearance, or the edible or marketing quality.
Sound:Not affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for human consumption
Wrapper leave:Leaves that form in early growth, unfold partially to form the shell (outer-covering) of the head
Mature — Fully-grown and developed.
Uniformity — Systematic continuity of an entity i.e. variety, class and size

Quality Requirements

The purpose of the standard is to define the quality requirements for red cabbage after preparation and packaging.

i. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

All headed cabbages shall comply with the following requirements. In all classes, subject to the special provisions for each class and the tolerances allowed, the produce must be:

Intact

Sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded
Clean and trimmed i.e. practically free from all earth or other growing medium and practically free from any visible foreign matter
Fresh in appearance
Practically free from pests/pest damages/disease
Not running to seed
Free from abnormal external moisture
Free of any foreign smell and /or taste

The development and condition of produce must be such as to enable it

Withstand transportation and handling
To arrive in a satisfactory condition at the place of destination.
The stem should be cut slightly below the lowest point of leaf growth; the leaves should remain firmly attached, and the cut should be clean.

ii. CLASSIFICATION

Red cabbage can be classified into two main categories as defined below:

a) CLASS I

Headed cabbages in this class must be of good quality. They must be characteristic of the variety and/or commercial type.

According to the variety and/or commercial type, they must be compact and have firmly attached leaves.
Stored headed cabbages may have some of their outer leaves removed. Green Savoy cabbages and early cabbages must be properly trimmed, but a number of outer leaves may be left for protection.

The following slight defects, however, may be allowed, provided these do not affect the general appearance of the produce, the quality, the keeping quality and presentation in the package:

Small cracks in the outer leaves
Slight bruising and light trimming of the outer leaves
The total length of the floral stem should not exceed one-quarter of the length of the head.

b) CLASS II

This class includes headed cabbages that do not qualify for inclusion in Class I, but satisfy the minimum requirements specified above. The following defects may be allowed, provided the headed cabbages retain their essential characteristics as regards the quality, the keeping quality and presentation.

Cracks in the outer leaves
Outer leaves may be removed
Larger bruises and the outer leaves may be more extensivelytrimmed
Less compact
Discoloration due to frost in case of green-headed cabbages.
The total length of the floral stem should not exceed two-thirds of the length of the head

iii. PROVISIONS CONCERNING SIZING

Size is determined by weight of the unit.
The minimum weight shall be 350 g per unit for early cabbages and 500 g per unit for other headed cabbages.
To ensure uniformity in size for produce in the same package, the weight of the heaviest head must not be more than double the weight of the lightest head. When the weight of the heaviest head is equal to or less than 2 kg the difference between the heaviest and the lightest head may be up to 1 kg.
Uniformity in size is compulsory for headed cabbages presented in packages. The size requirements shall not apply to miniature produce.

iv. PROVISIONS CONCERNING TOLERANCES

At all marketing stages, tolerances in respect of quality and size shall be allowed in each lot for produce not satisfying the requirements of the class indicated.

a) QUALITY TOLERANCES

(i) Class I: A total tolerance of 10 per cent, by number or weight, of headed cabbages not satisfying the requirements of the class but meeting those of Class II is allowed. Within this tolerance, not more than 1 per cent in total may consist of produce satisfying neither the requirements of Class II quality nor the minimum requirements, or of produce affected by decay.

(ii) Class II: A total tolerance of 10 per cent, by number or weight, of headed cabbages satisfying neither the requirements of the class nor the minimum requirements is allowed. Within this tolerance, not more than 2 per cent in total may consist of produce affected by decay.

b) SIZE TOLERANCES

For all classes (if sized): a total tolerance of 10 per cent, by number or weight, of headed cabbages not satisfying the requirements as regards sizing is allowed. However, no head may weigh less than 300 g in the case of early cabbages and 400 g in the case of other cabbages.

v. PROVISIONS CONCERNING PRESENTATION

a) UNIFORMITY

The contents of each package (or lot for produce presented in bulk in the transport vehicle), must be uniform and contain only headed cabbages of the same origin, variety or commercial type, quality, and size (if sized).
Headed red cabbages in Class I must be uniform in shape and color.
However, a mixture of headed red cabbages of distinctly different commercial types and/or colors may be packed together in a package, provided they are uniform in quality and, for each commercial type and/or color concerned, in origin.
Miniature headed red cabbages must be reasonably uniform in size. They may be mixed with other miniature products of different species and origin.
The visible part of the contents of the package (or lot for produce presented in bulk in the transport vehicle) must be representative of the entire contents.
Packages (or lots for produce presented in bulk in the transport vehicle) must be free of all foreign matter.

b) CONTAMINANTS

Pesticide residues the produce covered by this standard shall comply with the maximum residue limits for pesticides established by the codex alimentarius commission for this commodity.
Other contaminants -The produce covered by this standard shall comply with the maximum levels of the general standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed.

c) HYGIENE

It is recommended that the produce covered by the provisions of this Standard be prepared and handled in accordance with the appropriate sections of the General Principles of Food Hygiene Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables .and other relevant texts such as codes of hygienic practice and codes of practice.

The produce should comply with any microbiological criteria established in accordance with the Principles and Guidelines for the Establishment and Application of Microbiological Criteria related to Foods

d) PACKAGING

The package used shall ensure product safety and integrity. The packaging material that is in contact with the produce shall be of food grade, clean and of a quality such as to avoid causing any external or internal damage to the produce. The use of materials, particularly of paper or stamps bearing trade specifications is allowed, provided the printing or labelling has been done with non-toxic ink or glue. Packages shall be free from any foreign matter and the material shall be recyclable.

e) LABELLING

The following information shall be legibly and indelibly marked on the packets containing the produce.

Name of the produce i.e. “headed cabbages” and/or commercial type if the contents are not visible from the outside

Class
Size code:
Name and physical address of the importer/packer/distributor;
country of origin;
Net weight in kilograms;
Identification code and/or batch number
Name of the variety or commercial type;
Storage instructions.
GMO status

f) Sampling

Red Cabbages shall be sampled in accordance with the standard -Fruits and vegetables sampling

Conclusion

The expectation is that volumes of vegetables offered for sale are likely to increase dramatically over the next few years. The increasing demand, especially from the informal sector of the economy, is expected to increase competition. The importance of producing a good quality red cabbage will then be even greater than it is at present. This project is interested and is exploring the export market for various horticulture value chains from Rwanda. Wherever the export market is located, only produce of excellent quality will be acceptable and profitable.

With the use of this module to train farmers and small enterprisesdealing in red cabbage the above phenomena will play to the producers’ advantage thereby accruing more income from commercialization of red cabbage.