USDA grades, UNECE classes and Codex requirements, and how to choose the right date quality for your product.
By Souha Ben Amor, Sourcing Manager at Date Products Supplier | Published: October 2026
Dates are drawing more and more interest from food manufacturers looking for natural ways to sweeten their products instead of refined sugar. Yet for buyers discovering this fruit, the many grades, classes and packing details can quickly seem complex. Here is the information we get directly from the packing houses we work with.
Understanding date grades is simpler than it looks. Grade A, Fancy, Extra Class, Class I: buyers face many quality labels, but the key is simple: the right grade depends on what you make. The highest grade makes sense for whole dates on a retail shelf, rarely for dates that will become paste, syrup or powder.
1. Three Standards, Three Roles
The USDA sets voluntary quality grades for the United States. UNECE sets commercial classes for dates sold ready to eat. Codex Alimentarius sets minimum requirements for whole dates, without grades. They are not interchangeable, so always ask which one a supplier refers to.
2. Date Grades and Classes at a Glance
USDA grades
The USDA scores each lot out of 100 points across four criteria: color counts for 20 points, uniformity of size for 10, absence of defects for 30 and character, meaning how well developed, fleshy and soft the fruit is, for 40. U.S. Grade A, also called U.S. Fancy, needs at least 90 points, Grade B (Choice) 80, and Grade C (Standard) 70. These are scores, not percentages of perfect fruit, and dates below Grade C are classed as Substandard. Grades B and C also exist in a dry version for whole dry dates intended for processing.
Each grade also sets tolerances: defects may reach 10% by weight in Grade A, 15% in Grade B and 20% in Grade C, and a Grade A lot must be uniform in size and color. The USDA standard does not set a moisture limit (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).
UNECE classes
UNECE sorts dates for direct consumption into Extra Class, Class I and Class II. All must be intact, clean, free of living pests, visible mold and fermentation, weigh at least 4 grams, and stay below 26% moisture for cane-sugar varieties or 30% for invert-sugar varieties and natural Deglet Nour.
Tolerances widen by class: up to 5% of the fruit may fall short of the minimum requirements in Extra Class, 10% in Class I and 20% in Class II. Living pests are never accepted in any class (UNECE, 2024).
Codex requirements
Codex does not grade dates, but sets the baseline for all whole dates sold ready to eat. It requires the same moisture limits as UNECE, a minimum weight of 4.75 grams for unpitted dates and 4 grams for pitted ones, no more than 2 pits or 4 pit fragments per 100 pitted dates, and no more than 1 gram of mineral impurities per kilo. Its defect tolerances cap blemishes at 7% of the fruit, damaged or unripe dates at 6%, and mold and decay combined at 1% (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 1985).
How they compare
There is no official equivalence between USDA grades and UNECE classes, but the levels roughly match: Grade A and Extra Class at the top, Grade B and Class I in the middle, and Grade C and Class II at entry level, while Codex sets the minimum below which no whole date should be sold ready to eat. Neither UNECE nor Codex covers dates intended for industrial processing.
| USDA grade (min. score) | Closest UNECE class | Defects allowed (USDA / UNECE) | Dates per kg* | Best use |
| U.S. Grade A, Fancy (90/100) | Extra Class | 10% / 5% | 100 to 140 (whole) | Premium whole dates for retail and gift boxes |
| U.S. Grade B, Choice (80/100) | Class I | 15% / 10% | 140 to 160 (pitted) | Whole or pitted dates for retail, pitted, chopped or diced dates |
| U.S. Grade C, Standard (70/100) | Class II | 20% / 20% | 160 to 220 (pitted) | Pitted, chopped or diced dates, bakery and snacks |
| Dry grades, sound substandard | Not covered | Set by specification | Not graded by size | Paste, syrup, powder and date sugar |
Indicative only: there is no official equivalence between USDA grades and UNECE classes. Moisture: 26% max for cane-sugar varieties, 30% for Deglet Nour (UNECE and Codex). Codex size classes for pitted dates: large, 180 or fewer per kg; medium, 181 to 220; small, more than 220 (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 1985). *Typical Tunisian Deglet Nour packer data, not set by the standards: always confirm counts with your supplier. For comparison, a US commercial sheet lists 51 to 74 Deglet Noor dates per pound, about 112 to 163 per kg (National Raisin Company, n.d.); it is a product specification, not an official standard.
Example: a Tunisian packer’s Grade B Deglet Nour (Class I level) is amber to brown in color, counts 140 to 160 pitted dates per kilo (about 6 to 7 grams each) or 100 to 150 whole dates per kilo, has 16% to 23% moisture for pitted dates and allows no more than 1% to 3% defects for pitted dates. Its processed versions use glucose and sorbitol syrup for preservation, while natural dates contain dates only.
Whatever the system, date grades are mainly decided by defects. The most common are discoloration and dark spots, broken or cracked skin, puffiness, where the skin lifts away from the flesh, sunburn, scars, deformed fruit and immature or unpollinated dates, which stay light, shriveled or rubbery. Each one lowers the score or pushes a lot into a lower class. More serious problems, such as fermentation, visible mold, decay and insect damage, are kept to very low levels, and living pests are never accepted.
3. How Date Grades Are Set on the Packing Line
Grades are decided in the packing house. On arrival, dates are pre-sorted, then disinfested, washed and adjusted in moisture: dry dates are softened in a humid atmosphere, while overly soft ones are dried with warm air. They are then sorted by size, color and defects, and finally packed, sometimes under vacuum or protective gas to preserve their quality. Even color, uniform size and soft, flawless fruit reach the top grade, ideal for retail. Slight variations, firmer texture or minor blemishes lead to the middle and entry grades, well suited to pitted, chopped or diced dates. Dates can be offered natural or processed: processed dates are treated with glucose syrup to keep them soft during storage, and the syrup is listed on the label. Both options exist, so simply check which one you are buying.
Dates with broken skin, puffiness, deformities or small size are downgraded, but if they are clean and free of fermentation and mold, they make excellent raw material for paste, syrup and powder, where appearance no longer counts. The same logic now extends to new ingredients such as clear liquid date sugar and white date sugar crystals, which also start from processing-grade fruit. Only fermented, moldy, decayed or infested dates are rejected.
BUYER TIP
For processing-grade dates, ask for a specification rather than a grade: moisture, cleanliness, absence of fermentation and mold, pit and foreign-matter limits, particle size, Brix for syrup, and whether the dates are natural or processed.
4. Our Approach to Quality
We supply table-grade and industrial-quality dates from Tunisia, certified USDA Organic and EU Organic, with full lot traceability, and we state the standard or specification behind every product. You pay the right price for the right use, whether you need premium whole dates for retail or a consistent, well-specified raw material for your production line.
WORK WITH US
Not sure which grade fits your product? Contact our team for samples, specifications and advice, or learn more about Date Products Supplier.
All examples and figures in this article are based on the Deglet Nour variety.
Sources
Codex Alimentarius Commission. (1985). Standard for dates (CXS 143-1985). FAO/WHO. https://www.fao.org/input/download/standards/256/CXS_143e.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.-a). Date palm products: Date juice and syrup. https://www.fao.org/4/t0681e/t0681e07.htm
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.-b). Date palm products: Date processing. https://www.fao.org/4/t0681e/t0681e09.htm
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.-c). Date palm products: Date products. https://www.fao.org/4/t0681e/t0681e06.htm
National Raisin Company. (n.d.). Deglet Noor dates: Product specifications. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://nationalraisin.com/product/deglet-noor-dates/
Tunisian Industry Promotion Agency. (2005). Date packing: Professional fact sheet. https://www.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/fr/download/fichesPro/IAA/08.pdf
UNECE. (2024). UNECE standard DDP-08 concerning the marketing and commercial quality control of dates. https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/DDP-08_Dates_2024_E.pdf
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service. (n.d.-a). Dates grades and standards. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/dates-grades-and-standards
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service. (n.d.-b). United States standards for grades of dates. https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Date_Standard%5B1%5D.pdf