The commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered, after investigation, to establish and promulgate official standards of quality for grading, classifying and packing grapes packed or repacked within the state, and to change any of them from time to time. In establishing such standards he shall take into account, among other things, the factors of maturity, color, firmness of attachment to capstems, compactness of bunches, and damage caused by freezing or by disease or insects. The official standards so established and promulgated shall not be lower in their requirements than the minimum requirements of the official standards for corresponding grades of grapes as promulgated from time to time by the secretary of agriculture of the United States, which standards are commonly known as 'United States grades.' From and after the establishment of specific grades or standards of quality as hereinbefore provided, grapes in packages shall not be shipped for sale or thereafter sold or exposed for sale except by the grades or standards so established; provided, however, that grapes not graded and classified as to quality may be shipped not be shipped for sale or thereafter sold or exposed for sale except by the grades or standards so established; provided, however, that grapes not graded and classified as to quality may be shipped for sale or sold or exposed for sale as unclassified if so marked in a conspicuous manner on an irremovable-part of the container in accordance with rules to be adopted by the commissioner as hereinafter provided.
New York Legal Code