Grade A and Grade B are trade terms for colour and appearance, not official standards. Grade A dehydrated onion is usually whiter and more even, with fewer brown, scorched or dark pieces. Grade B allows more off-colour material and is sold at a lower price.
Each Mahuva processor defines its own grades. Some sell Grade A, B and C, some use words such as commercial or standard, and two plants' Grade A can look quite different. The grade name is a starting point. The sample and the written limits are what count.
What usually separates the grades
- Overall colour: Grade A is creamy white. Grade B is more cream or light yellow.
- Dark and brown pieces: Grade A has fewer. They come from scorching in the dryer, browning or poor raw onion.
- Black specks and skin: Grade A has fewer bits of outer skin, root and dark spots.
- Uniformity of pieces: in flakes and chopped, Grade A pieces tend to be more even.
- Raw material: Grade A usually comes from better raw onion and more careful drying and sorting.
What the grade does not tell you
Colour grade says little about safety. A Grade A product can still fail on total plate count, Salmonella or pesticide residues. A Grade B product can pass all of them. Microbiology, moisture and residue limits must be set separately, whatever grade you buy.
The grade also does not fix the particle size. Grade A flakes and Grade A powder are separate products with separate size specs.
Which grade to buy
Grade A is worth paying for when the onion is visible: retail flakes, ready meals, meal kits and white sauces. Grade B is often fine for powders and granules used in darker products, where small colour differences disappear.
Many plants make powder and granules from lower colour grades of flake, which is normal and acceptable if the final product meets your spec. If you need a very white powder, say so and set a colour limit for the powder itself. Which onion colour is best for my application covers matching colour to use.
Putting the grade into the contract
- Write the supplier's grade name, but do not rely on it alone.
- Agree a sealed reference sample that both sides keep.
- Add a limit on dark and brown pieces, for example a maximum count or percentage by weight, for illustration only.
- If your lab can measure colour with an instrument, add that method and a range.
- State that goods outside the reference can be rejected or re-sorted at the supplier's cost.
Watch for grade drift
A common complaint is that the first shipment matches the sample and later ones slip towards the next grade down. Compare each lot with the reference before loading. Our article on why quality drops after the first container explains why this happens and how to prevent it.
How we help
We collect matched samples of each grade from several plants so you can see the real difference, then set a reference sample with the supplier you choose. Before each container is loaded we check the lot against that reference. Start with a free sourcing review.