Grade

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Quality classes or trade classes are classifications of agricultural and fishing products according to certain aspects of their properties, in particular according to quality and origin. The purpose of the classification is to promote market overview, sales, production and the quality of these products. In particular, trade classes should make it easier for the consumer to make an appropriate choice between the different offers.

Commercial grades in food

Like all systems of standardization of goods, the division of foodstuffs into commercial classes should make it easier for consumers to compare the various offers on the market and to select them appropriately or according to their expectations. At the same time, this is intended to encourage food producers and marketers to offer goods that meet the specified criteria and to align their quality management with these standards. In the area of ​​the European Union, for example, in order to establish the common market and to facilitate the comparison of the foodstuffs exchanged there and the related pricing, to ensure quality and to protect consumers from being misled, marketing standards have long been installed to define the nature of many agricultural products . Numerous rules for classification were included and continue to be included, but to a lesser extent since 2011. Currently (as of April 2020) - except for fisheries / products from aquaculture - Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 17, 2013 on a common market organization regulates the definition and content of marketing standards that all agricultural products placed on the EU market must comply. According to this, marketing standards, which may also include classification criteria, are permissible for olive oil and table olives, fruit and vegetables and their processed products, bananas, live plants, eggs, poultry meat, spreadable fats and hops, but the details of which are left to the Commission.

In Germany, the legal basis for the classification of agricultural and fishery products was for a long time primarily the Trade Class Act (HdlKlG) of 1968, which authorizes the Federal Minister of Agriculture to introduce trade classes for individual product groups by means of statutory instruments in agreement with the Federal Minister of Economics . it is now largely meaningless due to directly applicable overriding EU law.

Features of the division

Commercial classes divide agricultural or fishery products according to the characteristics of quality, origin, manner and time of production, extraction, manufacture and treatment, supply status, purity and composition, sorting and durability of certain properties. Designation, labeling, presentation, shaping, packaging, units of quantity and weight, which are kept in stock for sale, offered, offered for sale, delivered, sold or otherwise put on the market, can also be stipulated for products.

It can also be stipulated that certain products may only be kept in stock for sale, offered, offered for sale, delivered, sold or otherwise brought into circulation according to the legal trade classes. It may also already be stipulated that the mere import or export of the products in question to or from Germany must comply with the requirements of the respective trade class.

Type of products

The division into trade classes affects agricultural products including vegetables, fruit, horticulture and viticulture, commercial animal husbandry and beekeeping, as well as the products obtained from fishing, as well as the foodstuffs produced from them through processing. Excluded from this are the products subject to the provisions of the Wine Act, which are subject to a special classification in accordance with the Wine Act.

Criticism of commercial classes

Problems arise, on the one hand, because a commercial class - like any other form of quality labeling - can only highlight a few properties of the goods. This means that the specified properties are given a special meaning (e.g. appearance), while other properties of possibly equally great importance (e.g. content of pesticides ) are not designated and their weight is therefore downgraded.

Another disadvantage of the trade classes is that food does not reach the market for the sole reason that it is even partially destroyed because it does not meet all the criteria of one of the specified trade classes, e.g. because an apple is too small or a cucumber is too curved .

A third point of criticism is related to the fact that the EU has not yet developed any “own, coherent rules on quality labeling”. Often the member states carry out the EU quality labels in different ways and allow - for example for wine - additional predicates (e.g. the quality level " Prädikat Auslese " or " Grand Cru ") so that the "approved information" tends to decrease Advertising with quality information is about information that gives the consumer clear indications of the quality of the wine and thus enables him to make a selection based on quality aspects. "

fruit and vegetables

EU standards

General Marketing Standards

For fruit and vegetables that are to be sold fresh to the consumer, the European Parliament and the Council have expressly stipulated that every owner who wants to offer, deliver or otherwise market them is responsible for ensuring that they are in perfect condition, unadulterated and are of marketable quality and the country of origin is indicated.

The Commission has determined that all regulated fruit and vegetables must meet the following minimum requirements: The products must be whole, healthy (in particular without rot or other defects that make them unsuitable for consumption), clean and practically free of any visible foreign matter , from pests, from damage caused by pests affecting meat, as well as free from abnormal external moisture and foreign smell and / or taste. The products must be in a condition that they can withstand transport and handling and arrive in a satisfactory condition at the place of destination. They need to be developed enough, but not overdeveloped. The fruits must have a sufficient degree of ripeness, but must not be overripe or be such that they can continue the ripening process and reach a sufficient degree of ripeness. In each batch, a maximum of 10% by number or weight of products that do not meet the minimum quality requirements and within this tolerance a maximum of 2% of spoiled products are permitted. In addition, minimum requirements are specified for the labeling to identify the packer and / or sender and the country of origin.

Special marketing standards, with quality / trade classes

The Commission has only determined further marketing standards, in particular for classifying them into commercial classes, specifically for apples, citrus fruits, kiwis , salads with endive and escarole, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes. Trade classes for other products such as before 2011 for asparagus or potatoes are not (no longer) regulated by the EU. In fact, however, their criteria can still apply via a public opinion developed about them and related food law bans as well as via definitions from other organizations such as standards of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Traffic perception

In addition to the EU standards, the following class criteria are (still) anchored in the expectations of consumers:

Commercial class Extra (H. Extra) highest quality ; free of any defects (whole, smooth, firm, plump), well formed, uniform color, same size.

Commercial class I (H. I) good quality; slight defects in form and development, slight color defects, very slight bruises, sufficient strength.

Class II (H. II) medium quality; larger errors and larger color deviations are permissible. In any case, the minimum requirements must be observed. Almost all organic articles carry the H. II.

flesh

The quality of the meat is divided into 4 quality classes, which are mainly determined by the fat, bone and cartilage content. Tender fillet and sirloin pieces that are largely free of fat are of the highest quality and correspondingly expensive.

  • 1st quality: z. B. Roast ribs (beef), ribs and ham (pork), leg (veal), back and leg (sheep)
  • 2nd quality: z. B. Middle breast (beef), comb and brisket (pork), back and comb (veal), bow (sheep)
  • 3rd quality: e.g. B. Chest core and comb (cattle), belly (pork), neck and belly (calf), neck and breast (sheep)
  • 4th quality: z. B. Cross ribs (beef), head (pork), head (veal)

These trade classes do not take into account all factors of meat quality (e.g. the wateriness of the tissue ) and also not the form of rearing such as. B. organic livestock .

There are also z. B. in the case of pork the division of the commercial classes according to the lean meat content . The classes are S, E, U, R, O, and P, with S being the highest class.

Eggs

Chicken eggs are divided into classes A and B according to EU marketing standards. Only eggs of quality class A may be marketed in retail or raw to the end consumer . They are labeled as they are or as "fresh" . The shell and cuticle must be clean, undamaged, and normal in shape. The air chamber must be immobile and no more than 6 mm high. The egg yolk may only be visible in the form of a shadow when fluoroscopic and must also remain central when turned. The egg white must be clear and see-through. Foreign smells, foreign deposits and deposits or a visible germ are not permitted. The eggs must not be washed or otherwise cleaned; they may not be preserved or cooled below 5 degrees Celsius - except for a maximum of 24 hours during transport or a maximum of 72 hours in the sales room.

milk

In Germany, the Milk Quality Ordinance differentiates milk into quality classes 1 and 2. Their quality features are particularly relevant for the payment of producers when they are sold to dairies; the latter often define a higher group, often called the S-Class .

Other grade applications

The European legislator and technical associations have also defined quality classes for other areas.

Waters

Water quality classes are used as an assessment measure for water bodies and are determined by means of standardized studies of the community.

technology

Classifications are established according to characteristics and guaranteed properties in technical standards (e.g. ISO standard). These are common in building materials, for example.

Further examples:

See also

literature

  • Ludwig Krämer: EEC consumer law . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1985.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Articles 74 and 75, paragraphs 1 and 2, on the regulation of classes, paragraph 3 b) Regulation (EU) 1308/2013; For references in implementing regulations of the Commission to Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007, which has largely been repealed, see Annex XIV to Art. 230 Paragraph 2; overall see also Federal Office for Agriculture and Food : Marketing standards for agricultural products with further links
  2. ↑ D-EU food retail: criticism of the disposal of food based on trade classes . In: The time . January 17, 2014, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed September 2, 2017]).
  3. ↑ German Wine Institute ( Memento of the original of February 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deutscheweine.de
  4. ↑ Krämer, EEC Consumer Law, p. 149.
  5. ↑ Art. 76 Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013; a violation of this is to be prosecuted in Germany as an administrative offense according to § 4 of the regulation on EU standards for fruit and vegetables (fine of up to EUR 10,000).
  6. ↑ Art. 3 (1) Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 543/2011 of the Commission of 7 June 2011 with implementing provisions for Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007 of the Council for the fruit and vegetable sectors and processed fruit and vegetables Annex I Part A
  7. ↑ Art. 3 Paragraph 2 Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 543/2011 with Annex 1 Part B
  8. ↑ in Germany about § 11 para. 2 no. 2 b) LFGB with the obligation to mark such deviations.
  9. ^ Food lexicon
  10. ^ Technical information from German transport insurers .
  11. ↑ Kochrezepte.de .
  12. ↑ agrarheute.com ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.agrarheute.com
  13. ↑ BLE : Marketing standards for eggs .... , specifically: Art. 78 Paragraph 1 e) Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 17, 2013 on a common market organization for agricultural products with annex VII Part VI . More detailed, ongoing implementation regulations in: Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 589/2008 of the Commission of 23 June 2008 with implementing provisions for Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007 of the Council with regard to marketing standards for eggs
  14. ↑ Appendix VII Part VI No. II para. 3 d. VO (EU) No. 1308/2013
  15. ↑ Art. 2 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Regulation (EC) No. 589/2008 of the Commission

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