Grading

Through cooperative agreements with the United States Department of Agriculture, the Food Products Inspection Program provides grading services to:

• poultry plants,
• shell egg plants,
• fruit and vegetable growers, and brokers.

The section enforces the requirements of the Delaware Egg Law to ensure consumers are purchasing accurately labeled, fresh, high quality and wholesome eggs.

Audits

The Food Products Inspection staff provides Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) and Harmonized Food Safety Audits. These programs provide producers and suppliers of agricultural products the opportunity to assure customers of their ability to provide consistent quality products or services.

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS) verifies the programs by reviewing documents and performing independent third-party audits. USDA-AMS audit and accreditation programs are voluntary and services are provided by hourly user-fees. USDA-AMS provides audit and accreditation programs based on widely-accepted audit principles, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standards, and/or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Principles and Guidelines.