Inspection and Weighing of Grain in Combined and Single Lots

Resumo

The Department of Agriculture's (USDA), Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is proposing to revise the regulations that cover the official grain inspection and weighing service procedures that GIPSA's Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) performs under the authority of the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended. Specifically, GIPSA proposes to update the regulations issued under the USGSA pertaining to grain exported in large reusable containers typically loaded onto export ships. GIPSA proposes to add new definitions of composite and average grades, limit the number of such containers that could be averaged or combined to form a single lot, restrict the inspection and weighing of such container lots to the official service provider's area of responsibility, specify a 60-day retention period for file samples representing such container lots, and make consistent the weighing certification procedures for container lots with those for inspection certification procedures. GIPSA believes that these proposed revisions would enhance the integrity of the Federal grain export certification process and the uniformity of USDA-certified export grai