Maturity requirements

The citrus fruit must have reached an appropriate degree of development and ripeness, account being taken of criteria proper to the variety, the time of picking and the growing area.
Maturity of citrus fruit is defined by the following parameters specified for each species below:
- minimum juice content
  - A reference method to determine the juice content is described in the Guidelines on Objective Test to Determine Quality of Fruit and Vegetables and Dry and Dried Produce.
- minimum total soluble solids content (TSS), i.e. minimum sugar content
  - A reference method to determine the refractometric index (TSS) is described in the Guidelines on Objective Test to Determine Quality of Fruit and Vegetables and Dry and
    Dried Produce.
- minimum sugar/acid ratio
  - A reference method for calculating the sugar/acid ratio is described in the Guidelines on Objective Test to Determine Quality of Fruit and Vegetables and Dry and Dried Produce.
- colouring
The degree of colouring shall be such that, following normal development the citrus fruit reach the colour typical of the variety at their destination point.
Colour is a progressive parameter. The transport conveyance time and/or means may be taken into consideration when inspecting fruit at the export or dispatcht control point.
The degree of colouring shall be such that following normal progress of colour change, the citrus fruit reach their normal variety colour.

	Minimum juice content (per cent)	Minimum sugar content (°Brix)	Minimum sugar/acid ratio	Colouring
Lemons	20			Must be typical of the variety. Fruit with a green (but not dark green) colour are allowed, provided they satisfy the minimum requirements as to juice content
Limes
Persian lime	42
Mexican and Indian limes	40			The fruit should be green but may show yellow patches up to 30% of its surface for Persian limes and up to 20% for Mexican and Indian limes
Satsumas, clementines, other mandarin varieties and their hybrids
Satsumas	33		6.5:1
Clementines	40		7.0:1
Other mandarin varieties and their hybrids	33		7.5:1	Must be typical of the variety on at least one third of the surface of the fruit


Oranges
Blood oranges	30		6.5:1
Navels group	33		6.5:1
Other varieties	35		6.5:1
Mosambi, Sathgudi and Pacitan with more than one fifth green colour	33			Must be typical of the variety. However, fruit with light green colour not exceeding one fifth of the total surface area of the fruit are allowed, provided they satisfy the minimum requirements as to juice content. Oranges produced in areas with high temperatures and high relative humidity conditions during the developing period having a green colour exceeding one fifth of the surface area of the fruit are allowed, provided they satisfy the minimum requirements as to juice content.
Other varieties with more than one fifth green colour	45
All varieties and hybrids	35			Must be typical of the variety. Fruit with a greenish colour (green in Oroblanco) are allowed, provided they satisfy the minimum requirements as to juice content
Oroblanco		9
Pummelos (Shaddock) and hybrids		8		Must be typical of the variety on at least two thirds of the surface of the fruit

Variety Group	Oranges	Easy Peelers	Lemons & Limes	Grapefruit & Pummelos
Illustration No.	20 External colour	60 External colour	100External colour	120 External colour – Star Ruby 121 External colour – Oroblanco 122 External colour – Chandler 123 External colour – Goliath

Citrus fruit meeting these ripeness requirements may be “degreened”. This treatment is only permitted if the other natural organoleptic characteristics are not modified.
De – greening
- The minimum colouring prescribed by this standard may in some cases be obtained at the dispatch stage by “de-greening”.
- It should, however, be emphasized that this practice should be applied only to remove the green colour and obtain a uniform colour, without affecting any of the fruit’s natural characteristics.
Consequently:
- Only fruit showing the required degree of development and ripeness may be de-greened.
- The operation must be performed in such a way that the fruit’s intrinsic characteristics are not at all affected.