Code of Federal Regulations Title 7. Agriculture § 7.42.106 Classifying and recording defects

(1) Related defects are defects on a single container that are related to a single cause. If the initial incident causing one of the defects had not occurred, none of the other related defects on the container would be present. As an example of related defects, a can may be a leaker and the exterior may also be seriously rusted due to the leakage of the contents. In this case, the container is scored only once for these two defects since the rust condition can be attributed to the leak. Score the container according to whichever condition is the most serious. In this example, score as a “leaker” (a critical defect) and not as “pitted rust” (a major defect).

(2) Unrelated defects are defects on a single container that result from separate causes. If the incident that caused one of the defects had not occurred, the other unrelated defects on the container would still be present. As an example of unrelated defects, a can may be seriously rusted, may have a bad dent along the seam, and the label may also be detached from the can because of improper gluing. In this case it is unlikely that any of the three defects exist because of a common cause. Therefore, they are considered unrelated defects and should be scored as three defects.

(3) The lot acceptance portion of this procedure is based on the number of defects per 100 containers. It is necessary to determine if the defects on any one container are “related” defects or “unrelated” defects. A container is scored for the most serious of related defects, and is also scored for each unrelated defect.