§361.2. Preemption of State and local laws; general restrictions on the importation of seed and screenings. — Inbound Citations

(a) In addition to meeting the declaration and labeling requirements of § 361.2 and all other applicable provisions of this part, all Canadian-origin agricultural seed and Canadian-origin vegetable seed imported into the United States from Canada for seeding (planting) purposes or cleaning must be accompanied by a certificate of analysis issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or by a private seed laboratory accredited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Samples of seed shall be drawn using sampling methods comparable to those detailed in § 361.5 of this part. The seed analyst who examines the seed at the laboratory must be accredited to analyze the kind of seed covered by the certificate.

(1) If the seed is being imported for seeding (planting) purposes, the certificate of analysis must verify that the seed meets the noxious weed seed tolerances of § 361.6. Such seed will not be subject to the sampling requirements of § 361.3(b).

(2) If the seed is being imported for cleaning, the certificate of analysis must name the kinds of noxious weed seeds that are to be removed from the lot of seed. Seed being imported for cleaning must be consigned to a facility operated in accordance with § 361.8(a).

(3) Screenings from seeds of wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, field corn, sorghum, broomcorn, flax, millet, proso, soybeans, cowpeas, field peas, or field beans that are not being imported for seeding (planting) purposes and the declaration accompanying the screenings as required under § 361.2(a) indicates that the screenings are being imported for processing or manufacturing purposes;

(c) Samples will not be drawn unless each container is labeled to show the lot designation and the name of the kind and variety of each agricultural seed, or kind and variety of each vegetable seed, appearing on the invoice and other entry papers, and a declaration has been filed by the importer as required under § 361.2(a). In order to secure a representative sample, an APHIS inspector will draw equal portions from evenly distributed parts of the quantity of seed to be sampled; the APHIS inspector, therefore, must be given access to all parts of that quantity.

(1) For free-flowing seed in bags or in bulk, a probe or trier shall be used. For small free-flowing seed in bags, a probe or trier long enough to sample all portions of the bag shall be used. When drawing more than one trierful of seed from a bag, a different path through the seed shall be used when drawing each sample.

(2) For non-free-flowing seed in bags or bulk that may be difficult to sample with a probe or trier, samples shall be obtained by thrusting one's hand into the seed and withdrawing representative portions. The hand shall be inserted in an open position with the fingers held closely together while the hand is being inserted and the portion withdrawn. When more than one handful is taken from a bag, the handfuls shall be taken from well-separated points.

(3) When more than one sample is drawn from a single lot, the samples may be combined into a composite sample unless it appears that the quantity of seed represented as a lot is not of uniform quality, in which case the separate samples shall be forwarded together, but without being combined into a composite sample.