The grading inspection of an agricultural product: decision-making problems and strategies with their training and selection implications

This research thesis describes an investigation into the grading inspection of apples with particular reference to the decision-making component of the inspection task. The research commences with an evaluation, conducted across seven grading packhouses in the United Kingdom, of the correctness and consistency with which examiners judge and classify fruit in accordance with the European Economic Community Standards and attempts to broadly answer two questions: (i) How well do human inspectors of apples perform under optimum conditions (the decision task with trivial search)? and (ii) how well do human inspectors of apples perform under actual 'on-line' conditions (the decision task with active search)? Subsequent analysis identifies those factors contributing to poor decision-making performance, of which four are the subject of further investigation. These are inspector training, selection of inspectors, the deployment of inspectors, and the method of presentation of fruit. [Continues.]