Sampling receipt (often called a sampling certificate)

A sampling receipt, often called a sampling certificate, is the superintendent's signed record of how a cargo was sampled. It states where and when the samples were drawn, on whose behalf, how many were sealed, with which seals, and where each one went. On its own it does not prove the quality: the analysis of a sealed sample does that, and the sampling record is what ties that result to the cargo.

The rules themselves are covered in sampling rules in the agricultural trade.

Who samples, and on whose behalf

The superintendent works for a principal: the buyer, the seller or both. GAFTA 124 still requires it to work independently, free of commercial or financial pressure. See also what an independent cargo surveyor does. Where a firm covers a distant port with subcontract surveyors, working with subcontract surveyors sets out how to keep one standard of work and the audit trail behind it.

FOSFA's Code of Practice for Member Superintendents (revised November 2022) adds a notification step. The other party, and others such as the terminal, the vessel or other buyers and sellers in the chain, must be told in detail who has been nominated and for what.

According to the Code, FOSFA contracts require member superintendents unless the contract or national law calls for a government or other agency, or none is available near the port. On a GAFTA contract that makes a government or authority certificate at loading final as to quality, that authority alone draws the samples.

Where and when cargo samples are drawn

The contract fixes the moment. GAFTA 100, a CIF form for feedingstuffs in bulk (July 2026), has samples taken at discharge, before the goods leave the ship or the quay. If the parties agree quality final at loading, they are taken at the time and place of loading instead. The loading-side inspection behind such a certificate is covered in pre-shipment inspection.

For oilseeds in bulk, FOSFA's Code places sampling at the point nearest the ship while loading or discharging; for seed arriving by ship it normally takes place at the transfer from the vessel. For oils and fats its checklist has shore tanks sampled before loading and ship's tanks after, with the ship's officers signing for the samples handed to them; at discharge the order reverses.

Damaged cargo is sampled on its own. FOSFA's Code wants sea-damaged or out-of-condition seed, loose collected cargo and sweepings kept out of the sound-seed sample: each is sampled and judged on its own. GAFTA 124 has damaged goods classified and sealed in separate sets per category, with a sample of sound goods for comparison, and the labels show the share of the tonnage affected.

What a sampling receipt records

A sampling receipt is a receipt, not a certificate: it records that samples were drawn and handed over. Typically one set is taken per tank, with one for the ship and one for the surveyor. The receipt lets the surveyor prove that the ship received its samples if the ship later claims it never did, which does happen. The surveyor writes on it the name of the ship, the place where the sampling took place, the tank and the type of sample.

GAFTA 124 prescribes no form under the name sampling certificate, and none of the typical certificates in FOSFA's Code carries that title. The sampling is reported on the superintendent's certificate or report for the job. FOSFA's typical groundnut certificate of quality and condition, for example, gives the sampling a paragraph of its own, next to the analysis and the superintendent's conclusion on quality and condition. Where one certificate covers both, the sampling receipt is its sampling part.

FOSFA's Code lists what its members' certificates carry. The GAFTA Standard for Supervision, Sampling and Check Weighing (version 7.0, 2019), the route to the Approved Register for superintendents without ISO 17020 accreditation, sets a minimum for the inspection report or certificate. Taken together:

Part	What it pins down
Issuer and document	who issued it, a unique number, date and place of issue, signature of an authorised person
Mandate	the principal and a summary of the instructions
Consignment	commodity and weight as declared, bulk or packages, from which conveyance to which, contract number if known
Intervention	date and place of the work, the holds, tanks or goods covered, and a time log
Sampling	number of samples drawn and sealed, seal details, and where the samples went or how they were disposed of
Deviations	procedures that were not followed, and why; FOSFA wants this in a separate report

For oilseeds, if a separate sampling report is asked for, FOSFA's Code wants it to say what state the seed was in, how it was sampled and what may have affected the work. ISO 5555, ISO 21294 and ISO 24333 each have a clause on the sampling report.

Two requirements in the GAFTA Standard matter once a certificate is challenged. Separate reports and certificates for the same job should be traceable to each other. A correction or addition after issue must be recorded so that the replaced version can be identified.

How the sampling and analysis documents relate is set out in certificate of analysis versus certificate of quality. Several typical certificates in FOSFA's Code carry the line that the findings hold only for the time and place of the intervention.

Seals, labels and custody

The seal is what turns a jar into evidence. GAFTA 124 defines a sealed sample as one sealed jointly by both sides or their superintendents, with seals that are tamper-proof and identifiable. FOSFA's Code describes the practice: the cap is sealed to the bottle or jar with matching tags and security seals, preferably through the tie-on label. Where that is not possible, the container normally goes into a plastic bag, which can itself be sealed.

The label ties the sample to one cargo. GAFTA 124 requires at least the ship's name, the quantity the sample represents and the date of sealing. FOSFA's oilseed label goes further, down to the hold, the bill of lading, the contracting parties and the purpose of the sample, and must be permanent and protected against water. FOSFA also stresses that the principal's instructions should make clear whether samples are drawn for analysis and arbitration.

Under GAFTA 124 the sealed samples belong to both parties, and the superintendent must make every effort to protect them but carries no liability for their loss or damage. GAFTA's Code of Practice for superintendents (effective 1 January 2022) has retained samples kept at the superintendent's premises or with a third party both sides agree on, in conditions that preserve them. Copies of certificates, principals' instructions and sample registration records are kept for at least seven years.

Why the sealed sample carries the quality claim

By the time a quality claim is argued, the cargo has been discharged and delivered. What remains are the samples and the paper that identifies them. Under the FOSFA Rules of Arbitration and Appeal (1 April 2026), where the sample will or may decide the case, the claimant sends sealed samples to FOSFA, where they are held for the arbitrators.

GAFTA 124's rye terms provisions, for goods arriving damaged or out of condition, show why two complete sets matter. If one set is proved lost, damaged or destroyed before or during forwarding, either party may go to arbitration on the other.

So a quality dispute can start one step before the analysis. Was this jar drawn from this cargo, sealed in front of both sides and kept unopened? A certificate that answers those questions keeps the argument on the result; see cargo claims in bulk shipping.

Based on the working practice of our sector specialist: 25 years in the port, 20 of them as a cargo surveyor. The receipt is what lets the surveyor show a ship that it was given its samples.

General advice: a sampling receipt should not be vague, for example "samples drawn in accordance with the contract", with no seal numbers, no holds and no note of who attended.

Keeping sample records traceable

FOSS is software for inspection companies and the port, with a sector specialist at the table: measurements entered once, nine report types from the same input, sample tracking and a client portal with live status. If seal numbers and sample sets now live in separate files, get in touch. We start with a free QuickScan.