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The Ministry of Agriculture has made official Ordinance No. 886/2026, which establishes strict rules for the sale of strawberries in Brazil. The “Extra” classification now tolerates only 1% rot, the size of the fruits must be standardized by gauge, and the label must inform the category, exact measurement, and packaging date. Traceability now requires the CPF or CNPJ of the person responsible, allowing identification of at which stage of the chain any fraud occurred.
The days of the strawberry that’s beautiful on top and spoiled underneath are numbered in Brazilian supermarkets. The federal government published Ordinance No. 886/2026 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA), which came into effect in February 2026, with rules that transform how the fruit is classified, packaged, and sold in Brazil. The practice of placing large, shiny fruits over small or moldy strawberries now constitutes a federal offense, and the new Technical Regulation for Identity and Quality requires that the appearance seen on the top of the punnet is the same as that found at the bottom.
The change tackles a problem every Brazilian knows. Who has never taken home a seemingly perfect punnet and discovered, upon turning over the strawberries, that half were moldy, crushed, or too green? The waste generated by this “window dressing” represented a hidden cost that the consumer absorbed without being able to complain. With the new ordinance, the quality must be uniform throughout the packaging, and anyone who fails to comply with the rule can be identified through the mandatory traceability that now requires the CPF or CNPJ of the person responsible at each stage of the chain.
The 1% rule that changes everything for strawberry buyers
According to information released by the ndmais portal, the “Extra” classification, the most expensive on the market, now has a tolerance of only 1% for rot. In practice, in a common punnet with 20 units, if just one strawberry is seriously deteriorated, the entire batch must be declassified from the premium category. The requirement forces retailers to rigorously review each package before placing it on the shelf, eliminating the visual fraud that caused the consumer to discard part of the product shortly after purchase.
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The other categories have also received specific limits. Category I allows a slightly higher tolerance for minor defects, and Category II permits fruits with an irregular shape, but none of them accept the intentional mixing of good and spoiled strawberries in the same punnet. Uniformity is now a mandatory criterion across all grades, and the consumer who finds a discrepancy between what is on top and what is underneath has legal grounds to complain.
The three gauges that end the deception in size
The “window dressing” of volume also has its days numbered, and fraud in the size of the fruits now has a technical definition. The government has established three gauge groups based on the fruit’s diameter: Gauge 1 for strawberries under 20 mm, Gauge 2 for fruits between 20 mm and 30 mm, and Gauge 3 for those over 30 mm. The rule prevents a punnet from mixing different sizes to give the impression of a larger volume than it actually offers.
The 20 mm cut-off becomes the reference for domestic consumption. Fruits below this measurement must be destined for the pulp and jam industry, not for fresh retail. For the consumer, standardization means punnets with uniformly sized strawberries, which improves homogeneous ripening and makes recipe preparation easier. The surprise of finding three large strawberries covering a dozen tiny fruits is over.
What the new label must inform and how to read it at the time of purchase
The transparency of the label is one of the pillars of the new regulation. Every strawberry punnet must mandatorily state the quality category (Extra, I, or II), the exact gauge of the fruits, and the packaging date. If the packaging indicates “Extra” and presents deformed strawberries, with excessive white spots or signs of mold, the establishment is not complying with the rule.
For the consumer who is used to buying based on appearance, the label becomes the most important tool at the time of choice. The size information allows you to know the exact size of the fruits before opening the package, and the packaging date indicates how long ago those strawberries were packed. The combination of category, size, and date creates a standard of information that did not exist before and that transforms the purchase of strawberries into an informed decision.
Traceability by CPF and CNPJ that allows for punishing fraudsters
The most powerful mechanism of the new ordinance is total traceability. Each tray must contain the CPF or CNPJ of the person responsible for packaging, which allows, in case of irregularity, Procon and MAPA inspection to identify exactly at which stage the fraud occurred: whether in production, transport, or distribution.
Before the rule, a consumer who found spoiled strawberries at the bottom of the tray had no way of knowing who was responsible. Traceability eliminates this gray area and creates direct accountability, encouraging each link in the chain to maintain quality because there is now a record that connects the product to the person responsible for it. For those who find irregularities, the guidance is to file a complaint with Procon using the information on the label.
The impact on price and why the rule may be worth every penny
The production sector acknowledges that standardization requires specialized labor for measuring and sorting the fruits by size, which may lead to adjustments in prices. However, the direct benefit for the consumer is the reduction of waste: the amount paid will be fully converted into usable strawberries, without the loss of fruits that went straight from the bottom of the tray to the trash.
The calculation is simple: if before a consumer paid R$ 12 for a tray and discarded 30% of the strawberries because they were spoiled, the real cost was R$ 17 per usable kilo. With the new rule, even if the nominal price increases by a few reais, the effective cost per strawberry consumed may fall because the waste will be drastically lower. The shopping experience finally becomes honest.
Have you ever been deceived by the “makeup” of a strawberry tray at the supermarket, or do you always check the bottom before buying? Tell us in the comments if you think the new rule will work in practice and if you are willing to pay a little more for guaranteed quality strawberries.
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