Defect and tolerance
Wind scar on oranges, and why the norm permits it
A wind scar is the corky layer a young fruit grew over an abrasion, after leaves and twigs rubbed against it while the canopy moved. Almost all of it happens in the first weeks after petal fall. Rubbing is named among the healed mechanical defects that both graded classes accept.
The figures
| What causes it | Leaves, twigs and branches rubbing against the fruit surface as wind moves through the canopy |
|---|---|
| When it happens | Almost entirely within about twelve weeks of petal fall, while the fruit is still small |
| What you are looking at | A protective corky layer the fruit formed over the abrasion, which is why the mark is brown and dry |
| How it looks | Single or multiple grey to brown scars, often running across or diagonally |
| Class I wording | Slight healed defects due to a mechanical cause such as hail damage, rubbing or damage from handling |
| Class II wording | The same list of defects, without the qualifier slight |
| Orchard remedy | Semi-porous windbreak netting around exposed blocks |
What it changes on an order
You are minded to reject on appearance alone
Of everything on a citrus pallet, this is the defect the standard describes most plainly, and it describes it in the grower's favour. A healed rub is named, expected and accepted in both graded classes.
You buy from an exposed coastal block
Severity tracks how much wind the fruit lived through. Two growers in the same comarca can deliver visibly different lots because one put netting up and the other did not.
Your specification says Extra
Extra has no line for healed mechanical defects. Ask for it from an exposed site and somebody has to sort the difference out by hand, which is a cost that ends up in the price you are quoted.
What this note does not settle
- Healed is the word carrying the weight. A fresh abrasion from a packing line is not a wind scar and the clause that covers one does not cover the other.
- Extent still bites through the general condition about appearance, quality, keeping quality and presentation in the package.
- We cannot tell you the wind exposure of the specific plot behind a given lot until the grower confirms it.
Source: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, Annex I Part B Part 2 (specific marketing standard for citrus fruit), Grierson and Hatton, Photographic guide to citrus fruit scarring, UC ANR Publication 8090, Occurrence and identification of preharvest citrus blemishes, Florida State Horticultural Society
Old damage riding on new fruit
By the time a wind-scarred orange reaches a box, the injury behind it is months old. Leaves and twigs scraped the surface when the fruit was barely formed, the plant sealed the wound under a corky layer, and the fruit then grew around the repair. Everything brown and rough you can see is that repair, stretched out to the size of a mature orange.
Healed damage of mechanical origin is written into both graded classes by name, with rubbing given as the example. Nowhere else in the citrus standard is a defect anticipated and accepted so plainly. Rejecting a Class I lot for wind scar alone means arguing against a sentence drafted with exactly this mark in mind.
The orchard, not the packhouse, answers for it
Severity follows exposure. A block on an open coastal plain accumulates more than a sheltered one inland, and growers who put netting along the exposed edges cut it substantially. None of that lies within the control of whoever grades the fruit afterwards, which makes wind scar a question for the plot rather than for the line.
We can tell you which plots our fruit comes from. What we cannot yet tell you is the exposure of each one, or what protection stands around it, because the grower has not confirmed those details. Ask about a specific block and we will put the question to him on your behalf.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.