Sampling rules in agri trade: GAFTA 124, FOSFA and ISO

GAFTA 124 is the rule book for drawing, sealing and distributing samples on GAFTA contracts. The current edition applies to contracts dated from 1 July 2026. Oils, fats and oilseeds on FOSFA terms are sampled under FOSFA's Contractual Methods of Sampling, which point mainly to ISO 5555 and ISO 21294, while ISO 24333 is the international standard for sampling cereals.

Why the sample decides the quality dispute

An analysis certificate describes what was in one sealed sample. The contract covers the whole cargo. The introduction to ISO 21294, the oilseed sampling standard FOSFA refers to, makes the point: most oilseeds are traded on the analysis of samples, and disputes are settled on those samples.

A superintendent draws and seals; an analyst tests. The roles are set out in what an independent cargo surveyor does and ISO 17025 versus ISO 17020.

What GAFTA 124 covers

GAFTA No. 124, Rules for Sampling, Analysis Instructions and Certification, applies to goods traded on contracts that incorporate GAFTA terms. The contract form decides whether it applies, whatever the commodity. The work must be done by a superintendent on the GAFTA Approved Register of Superintendents, and, as a rule, the samples go to an analyst on the GAFTA Approved Register of Analysts.

The rules follow the job from choosing the sampling point and drawing increments across the whole loading or discharge, through homogenising and dividing the aggregate, to sealing, labelling, making up sets per commodity group, instructing the analyst and keeping what is left. Where the full aggregate cannot be blended in one go, lot samples may be pre-reduced if both superintendents agree.

It also prescribes minimum increments, sample sizes, set compositions, deadlines and a retention period. Those figures are GAFTA's copyright and can change between editions, so we leave them out: read them off the edition that applies to your contract.

In the October 2025 edition, the sets for grains, pulses, seeds and rice, for malting barley and for the feedingstuffs group each included a sample marked "for arbitration". In the 2026 edition that sample is marked spare, and the section heading no longer mentions arbitration. Only the rye terms provisions still link sealed samples directly to arbitration.

Background: what GAFTA is and GAFTA contract numbers explained.

How GAFTA 124 and GAFTA 130 divide the work

GAFTA No. 130 is the Register of Analysis Methods. A GAFTA Approved Analyst must take the test method from it, for contractual and ring test analysis, and most entries point to ISO methods. GAFTA's contract list shows 130 as a web register effective from January 2018. Its introduction is dated 1 January 2021 and states that a reference to an ISO method means the latest published version unless the parties agree otherwise.

The split is not clean. GAFTA 124 governs the sample and the paperwork around the analysis: the choice of analyst, the instructions, what the certificate must state and, for some commodity groups, second and third analyses. GAFTA 130 fixes the test method. The resulting document is compared in certificate of analysis versus certificate of quality.

How FOSFA handles sampling for oils, fats and oilseeds

FOSFA's Contractual Methods of Sampling mostly point to ISO standards and add FOSFA official methods for packaging and storage. For oilseeds it refers to ISO 21294:2017, which ISO itself lists for revision. The document contains one drawing procedure of its own, for sampling edible groundnuts for aflatoxin testing, which is marked as not applicable to groundnuts imported into the EU.

Commodity group	Drawing the sample	Preparing the test sample	Packaging and storage
Oils, fats, technical tallows, greases and acid oils	ISO 5555 with Amendment 1:2014	ISO 661:2003	FOSFA official method
Oleaginous seeds and seed products	ISO 21294:2017	ISO 664:2008	FOSFA official method

Summarised from FOSFA's Contractual Methods of Sampling (pages dated April 2017 and April 2018). Check the current document on fosfa.org.

For oils and fats, labels follow ISO 5555 and must show the FOSFA contract number. Sealing wax should not contain copper; where it might, the bottle is sealed inside a plastic bag. Oilseed samples are labelled to ISO 21294, and FOSFA sets separate packing and storage rules for them. FOSFA is the administrative office of ISO/TC 34/SC 11 (fats and oils) and takes part in ISO/TC 34/SC 2 (oilseeds).

FOSFA's packaging method applies to all samples drawn under its contracts for analysis, arbitration or standards purposes, so the jar on the shelf may end up before a tribunal. See what FOSFA is and GAFTA and FOSFA arbitration.

What ISO 5555 and ISO 24333 add

ISO 5555:2001, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Sampling. Third edition, 15 December 2001, prepared by ISO/TC 34/SC 11, amended in 2014 to cover flexitanks and confirmed on review in 2023. It describes how to sample crude or processed animal and vegetable fats and oils, liquid or solid, and the apparatus used. A new edition is in preparation.

ISO 24333:2009, Cereals and cereal products — Sampling. First edition, 15 December 2009, prepared by CEN/TC 338 with ISO/TC 34/SC 4. It covers static and dynamic sampling, by hand or mechanically, for quality and condition, including contaminants that are unevenly distributed. It does not apply to seed grain. ISO lists it for revision, with a second edition under development.

GAFTA 124 and the FOSFA methods apply because the contract incorporates them. GAFTA 124 contains no reference to ISO 24333, and the introduction to GAFTA 130 adds that sampling on GAFTA contracts follows 124 unless the parties agree otherwise, whatever an adopted ISO method may say.

What goes wrong when the sampling does not hold up

Based on the working practice of our sector specialist: 25 years in the port, 20 of them as a cargo surveyor. The sample types in use are composite average ex shore tank, composite average ex ship's tank(s), quality, average on discharge, EOSL, first foot sample, and top, middle, bottom and absolute bottom samples.

• Increments bunched in time. Sampling the first and last hour gives an average of the first and last hour.
• Reduction by scooping. Taking a scoop off the top of a heap skips the divider, or the other method both superintendents agreed on, that exists to prevent bias.
• An absent party. If one side is not represented, 124 has the other side call in another approved superintendent to act for it, at the absent party's cost. This does not apply on quality (certificate) final terms.
• Missed deadlines. Under GAFTA 124, missing the deadline for sending the analysis sample or for copying the certificate to the other side bars a claim for rejection or allowances, unless the arbitrators or the Board of Appeal decide otherwise.
• Broken chain of custody. 124 requires tamper-proof, identifiable seals and samples kept intact up to the laboratory. A seal that cannot be matched to a record weakens the sample.
• Retention not extended. Under 124 the superintendent disposes of unused samples when the retention period ends, unless either party instructs otherwise in writing. With a claim open, send that instruction.

What a sampling receipt has to show is set out in the sampling receipt and cargo sampling.

How sampling records support a claim

Several of these failures are administrative: seals, sets and dispatch dates kept in separate records. FOSS is software for inspection companies and the port, with a sector specialist at the table: measurements entered once, nine report types out of the same input, sample tracking, and a client portal with live status. If that is where your time goes, get in touch. We start with a free QuickScan.