Post by R H DraneyPost by Evan KirshenbaumPost by R H DraneyI love arguing with the slack-jawed youth at the movie concession
counter about the meaning of the word "medium"...surely if there are
only two cup sizes available, neither can be medium, and if there
are three or more, the extremes can't be medium either....r
Do you similarly argue with the people at the supermarket, because the
smallest size of olive they sell is either "medium" or "large"?
No, nor do I raise the argument in connection with eggs, because I
know that the smaller size exist, if not in the inventory of the
stores I frequent....
The same thing happens with cups. This place may not have anything
smaller than a "medium", but their medium is (roughly) the same as
their competitor's medium, and their competitor has a smaller size.
Or this place may have had a smaller size but discontinued it as not
being cost effective. Or they may still have a smaller size, but
found that people are more likely to buy it if they call it a "kid's
size" or "value size". (Burger King, for example, currently doesn't
sell anything smaller than a "medium"...unless you order a kid's meal,
in which case you get a smaller "kid's size", which they used to sell
as a "small".)
Post by R H DraneyI'm trying to remember now what all the sizes are for shrimp;
there's tiny, small, medium, large, jumbo and colossal, that last
counting 8 to 12 per pound avoirdupois...I think once I even bought
a batch of "super-colossal"....
No "colossal" or "super-colossal" defined by the USDA. From 21 CFR
161.173,
Number of shrimp per 28.4 g (1 oz) of
drained product
Size ---------------------------------------
Other than
deveined style Deveined style
----------------------------------------------------------------
Extra large or jumbo.... Less than 3.5..... Less than 3.8.....
Large.................... 3.5 to 5.0 3.8 to 5.4
inclusive. inclusive.
Medium.................. More than 5.0 but More than 5.4 but
not more than 9.0. not more than 9.8
Small................... More than 9.0 but More than 9.8 but
not more than not more than
17.0. 18.4.
Tiny.................... More than 17.0.... More than 18.4....
Olives, on the other hand, come in (7 CFR 932.152)
Variety group 1 Variety group 2
---------------------------------------------------
Except
Ascolano, Ascolano,
Barouni, Barouni, Obliza Except
St. St. Obliza
Agostino Agostino
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Small........... N.A. N.A. N.A. 128-140
Medium.......... N.A. N.A. 106-127 106-127
Large........... N.A. 91-105 91-105 91-105
Extra Large..... 65-75 65-90 65-90 65-90
Jumbo........... 47-60 47-60 47-60 47-60
Colossal........ 33-46 33-46 33-46 33-46
Sup. Colossal... (\1\) (\1\) (\1\) (\1\)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 32 or fewer.
N.A.--Not Applicable.
So there are, indeed types of olives that don't come any smaller than
"extra large".
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
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