High Quality Specialty Grains inspection program can aid phytosanitary requirement

Japan’s new requirement for a phytosanitary certificate for U.S. origin shipments of soybeans and soybean meal begins on Aug. 5, 2023. This requirement by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries applies to all shipments landing in Japan on or after that date. Shipments without a phytosanitary certificate will be rejected.

SSGA successfully negotiated to delay implementation of this requirement for three years, and, over that time, worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service as APHIS developed a stronger process approach for inspections of high-quality grains and oilseeds grown in the United States and exported for human consumption or processed for human consumption and are shipped bagged or bulk in containers.

APHIS’s High Quality Specialty Grains (HQSG) inspection program, is now up in running – in time for Japan’s new phytosanitary requirement.

This process-oriented, audit-based program helps our small, rural businesses reduce costs in their applications for phytosanitary certificates while also providing effective oversight through compliance with APHIS.

More information about the HQSG program and its requirements and procedures is available in the updated USDA Export Manual, beginning on page 157 of the linked PDF.

Grain facilities interested in participating should contact SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg for more information on registration requirements and to request application materials at 507-385-7577 or ewenberg@soyagrainsalliance.org.

SSGA thanks APHIS for establishing the program and thanks the Illinois Soybean Association, Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board for their support in the development of this program.