Gold Kiwi Grade Standards

The kiwi production cycle last for the entire year, from pruning to picking and packing. March to May is the harvest time when the labor demand is very high. For more information, please visit Zespri

Round beautiful kiwi fruits are always seen in the supermarket, thanks to we graders :) Many of you are not aware of the fact that kiwi fruits can be in very funny shapes, and with strange defeats that we have not heard. 

Some think that being a grader is easier than being a packer, as we graders can always sit and just look at the kiwi fruits spinning on the roller conveyor in front of us. Physically it is. However, grading requires more concentration, and of course the grading knowledge. 

Most common defeats would be misshaped, blemish, hayward mark, stain, mishape, ridging, proximity mark, bird poo, over ripen, and etc. Some of them are acceptable into 1st class, some of them are acceptable into 2nd class while some of them can never be acceptable. For eg, kiwi fruits which are misshaped or with bird poo are always thrown down chute. Some with blemish not larger than 1 inch are accepted into 1st class, otherwise, 2nd class. 1st class kiwi fruits are exported, where 2nd class kiwi fruits are for local demands. 

It is impossible to grade 100% correctly as we have different judgement. The supervisors would monitor the quality and remind us all the time what we have missed.