General Seed Certification Standards Rules and Regulations
19. Sampling
Sampling of seed eligible for certification may be done either during conditioning or after all conditioning procedures have been completed. Each portion of a lot identified for certification must be sampled. The certification samples are either drawn by an agent of the CCIA, by a state or federal official acting upon the request of the CCIA, the local agricultural commissioner's office, or by a 'Certification Representative' approved by the local agricultural commissioner. Sampling will be in accordance with the procedures defined by the:
The primary sample is a portion taken from the seed lot during one single sampling action. The composite sample is formed by combining and mixing all the primary samples taken from the seed lot. The sample submitted for laboratory analysis is taken from the composite sample (see Reference Sample Size table for sizes). An additional sample taken from the composite sample is kept for possible seed testing by the CCIA. The balance of the composite sample may be used for any other additional testing.
 |
Seed lot |
| Primary sample |
| Composite sample |
| Submitted or Reference samples |
| This flow scheme is provided to visualize the flow of a sample in seed testing; it does not represent sampling intensity nor size relationships between the samples. |
Other means of sampling may be used if advance approval is given by the CCIA and the local agricultural commissioner. It is the responsibility of the Accredited Seed Conditioner to assure that sampling procedures are followed and that sampling procedures are not altered. In order to determine varietal purity, seed samples submitted for certification must not be treated.
Updated August 2010
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