Regulations > [Repealed] Grading, Packing, and Marking of Table Olives intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa

Any word or expression in these regulations to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have that meaning and, unless the context otherwise indicates—

"abnormal colour"

means olives of which the colour is distinctly different from the characteristic colour of the trade preparation in question and from the average of a representative sample of the batch;

"abnormal texture"

means olives which are excessively or abnormally flabby or tough in comparison with the trade preparation in question and with the average of a representative sample of the batch;

"address"

means a physical address and includes the street or road number or name and the name of the town, village or suburb and, in the case of a farm, the name or number of the farm and of the magisterial district in which it is situated;

"blemished fruit"

means olives with marks or stains on the skin that are more than 9 mm2 in surface area and that may or may not penetrate through to the fleshes which singly or in the aggregate, materially affect the appearance or eating quality of the olives;

"broken fruit"

means olives damaged to such an extent as to affect their normal structure;

"batch (lot)"

means a definite quantity of table olives produced essentially under the same conditions, and not exceeding a period of 24 hours;

"container"

means the immediate container manufactured from any suitable material into which the table olives are packed for final sale;

"defective stuffing"

means olives presented in the stuffed olive style which are totally or partly empty in comparison with the trade preparation in question and with the average of a representative sample of the batch;

"drained mass"

means the mass, in grams, of the drained contents of a container of olives, determined as prescribed in the methods of analysis;

"excessively soft"

means olives–

(a)	that appear to be spongy or watery;

(b)	that have the apparent shape of whole units, but appear to have disintegrated flesh and water texture; or

(c)	of which the pit can be felt when applying moderate pressure;

"food additive"

means a food additive as defined in section 1 of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act No. 54 of 1972);

"foodstuff"

means a foodstuff as defined in section 1 of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act No. 54 of 1972);

"harmless extraneous material"

means any vegetable matter not injurious to health, nor aesthetically undesirable, for example leaves, separated stems, but does not include any other substances which may have been added and which use are permissible in terms of these regulations;

"hermetically sealed containers"

means containers which are sealed to protect the contents against the entry of micro-organisms during and after heat processing;

"label"

means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial, graphic or other descriptive matter, which is written, printed, stenciled, marked, embossed, impressed upon, or permanently attached to a container of a foodstuff, and includes labelling for the purpose of promoting its sale or disposal;

"main panel"

means that part of the container or label that bears the brand or trade name of the product in greatest prominence or any other part of the container or label that bears the brand or trade name in equal prominence;

"mutilated fruit"

means olives damaged by tearing the epicarp affecting the flesh to such an extent that a portion of the mesocarp becomes visible;

"organic"

means a product which has been produced, processed and handled in compliance with organic production standards and certified by a recognised accredited certification body or authority;

"outer container"

means any packaging containing individual containers whether it completely or partially encloses the containers;

"packed to capacity"

means that the container has been filled with the maximum quantity of olives that can be sealed therein without breaking tor crushing the contents;

"registered trade mark"

means a registered trade mark as defined by the Trade Marks Act, 1993 (Act No. 194 of 1993);

"shrivelled fruit"

means olives that are so abnormally wrinkled as to affect their appearance. Slight superficial wrinkles displayed by certain trade preparations shall not be considered a defect;

"soft"

means units lacking the firmness that is characteristic for a particular variety;

"stems"

means stems attached to the olives and which measure more than 3 mm in length when measured from the shoulder of the olive: Provided that it shall not be considered a defect in whole olives presented with stems attached;

"stone (pit)" or "stone (pit) fragments"

means whole stones (pits), or stone (pit) fragments measuring more than 2 mm along their longest axis, but does not include whole olives;

"table olives"

means the product —

(a)

prepared from the sound fruits of varieties of the cultivated olive tree (Olea europaea L.) having reached appropriate degree of development for processing that are chosen for their production of olives whose volume, shape, flesh-to-stone ratio, fine flesh, taste, firmness and ease of detachment from the stone make them particularly suitable for processing;

(b)	treated to remove its bitterness and preserved by natural fermentation, and/or by heat treatment, and/or by other means so as to prevent spoilage and to ensure product stability in appropriate storage conditions with or without the addition of preservatives; and

(c)	packed with or without a suitable liquid packing medium in accordance with regulation 10;

"the Act"

means the Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990); and

"transparent containers"

means a container which consists of at least 25 percent continuous portion of the area that is transparent.

Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990)

Regulations

Regulations relating to the Grading, Packing, and Marking of Table Olives intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa

1. Definitions