Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990)RegulationsGrading, Packing and Marking of Rice Kernels intended for sale in the Republic of South AfricaPart III : Methods of Inspection12. General Sampling |
| (1) | A sample of a consignment of rice shall for the purpose of the application of these regulations be obtained as follows: |
| (a) | In the case of rice in retail quantities packed in containers— |
| (i) | randomly taking from the number of containers concerned, at least the applicable number of containers mentioned in column 2 of sampling Plan Table 2 below; |
TABLE 2. SAMPLING PLAN
Number of containers comprising quantity of Rice |
Minimum number of containers to be selected at random |
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Less than 10 |
2 |
11 to 50 |
4 |
More than 50 |
6 |
| (ii) | sampling each such container by hand in the manner set out in regulation 13: Provided that if the contents per container is 1kg or less the total contents of all the chosen containers will be taken as sample; and |
| (iii) | in the case of rice in retail quantities that are kept for sale in loose quantities, obtain a sample by hand in the manner contemplated in regulation 13. |
| (b) | In the case of rice delivered in bags— |
| (i) | sampling each bag in that consignment with a grain probe as contemplated in regulation 14 or by hand as contemplated in regulation 13 if it consists of 100 bags or less; or |
| (ii) | by otherwise sampling at least 10 percent of the bags chosen at random from that consignment at random with a grain probe as contemplated in regulation 14 or by hand as contemplated in regulation 13: Provided that at least 15 bags in a consignment shall be sampled and where a consignment consists of less than 15 bags, all the bags in that consignment shall be sampled. |
| (c) | in case of rice delivered in bulk and subject to regulation 12, be obtained by sampling that consignment throughout the whole depth of the layer, in at least six different places, chosen at random in that bulk quantity, with a bulk sampling apparatus. |
| (2) | The collective sample obtained in subregulation (1)(b) or (c) shall— |
| (a) | have a total mass of at least 5kg; and |
| (b) | be thoroughly mixed by means of dividing before further examination. |
| (3) | If it is suspected that the sample referred to in subregulation 1(b) is not representative of that consignment, an additional 2 percent of the remaining bags chosen from that consignment at random, shall be emptied into a suitable bulk container and sampled in the manner contemplated in subregulation (1)(c). |
| (4) | A sample taken in terms of this regulation is considered to be representative of the consignment from which it was obtained. |