(ANSI: Washington, D.C.) -- The rows of bulk food bins that line many grocery store aisles offer endless options for enhancing recipes. From grains and cereals to nuts, seeds, and spices, the various commodities that fill those bins are standardized through International Organization for Standardization’s Technical Committee 34, Food Products (ISO/TC 34).
TC 34 committee members have already developed a number of sector-specific standards for sampling cereal, feeds, oilseeds, and meals. However, the application of these standards is limited. In an effort to develop a rational, globally applicable sampling protocol for bulk commodities, the American Oil Chemists Society is hosting the first International Forum on Sampling for Commodity Grains on May 14-16, 2008.Held in Seattle, Washington, this plenary meeting will form an expert panel and provide direction for the development of an ISO international workshop agreement (IWA) for bulk commodity grain sampling.
During the meeting, surveyors and official sampling organizations will present real-world perspectives on schemes that are currently used to provide a reference of available standards from different organizations. The IWA will analyze and compare common factors among the various sampling plans presented, and will ultimately present the basic foundation for all commodity grain sampling documents.
In developing the globally applicable single scheme, the IWA will examine and reference statistical background information, providing a platform for assessing analytical methods that help to determine quality parameters for commodity grain sampling.
An organizational member of the American National Standards Institute and the ANSI-accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group Administrator to ISO/TC 34, AOCS is inviting practical, statistical, and analytical experts on regional, governmental, voluntary consensus, and intergovernmental standards to attend the forum. Representatives from ISO/TC 34 subcommittees, related trade associations, relevant surveyor agencies, and other constituents, including dockside samplers and regulators, are strongly encouraged to attend.
For more information, visit www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=1758
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