Certificates and Inspection Data Warehouse

The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) modernized its grain inspection and weighing business information systems to better meet the needs of our customers. The Certificate Program automated the certification process and feeds data to the Inspection Data Warehouse (IDW), a comprehensive, national database of inspection and weighing information.

The Inspection Data Warehouse will provide fast and easy access to all official inspection and weighing records for services provided by official service providers. You will be able to:

  • View and download your specific inspection and weighing service data for carriers and samples in a secure environment in the comma-separated values (CSV) file format,
  • Get automated data transmissions in either the AgXML or CSV file format,
  • Share inspection and weighing data that you specify with your customers, employees, and others, using our Customer Information Management system, and
  • Electronically verify your certificate.

In addition, the Warehouse will provide public access to general information about grain quality, official service volume, and the inspection and weighing of grain in domestic and international commerce.

The Certificate Program will issue redesigned inspection and weighing certificates that are standardized in design, color, and size to make them more identifiable as official documents and easier to print. You will be able to:

  • Get remote certification,
  • Print all certificates on standard white paper instead of special or colored paper, based on the type of certificate being issued,
  • Print a standardized certificate that identifies the color of the certificate and clearly displays all qualifying statements, and
  • Receive a pdf of your certificate(s) for you to forward to your customers.

Types of Certificates Available and Qualifying Statements

CertificateColor ReferencedQualifying Caption
Export InspectionNoneNone
Sample-lot inspections for rice, grain, and commodity inspection certificates for AMA
commodities
“Official White Certificate”None
Submitted sample inspections for grain and
commodity submitted sample inspection
certificates for AMA commodities
“Official Pink Certificate”
“NOT OFFICIALLY SAMPLED”
above the grade line
Commercial sample-lot inspections“Official Green Certificate”
“COMMERCIAL”
above the grade line
Commercial submitted sample inspections“Official Blue Certificate”
“COMMERCIAL – NOT
OFFICIALLY SAMPLED”
above the grade line
Warehouseman’s sample-lot inspections“Official Yellow Certificate”
“QUALIFIED”
above the grade line
Official grain weighing“US Class X Weights”None
Supervision of grain weighing“US Class Y Weights”
“CLASS Y WEIGHING”
above the kind of grain

For More Information

For more information on this and other FGIS programs, visit our web site or contact:

FGISOnlineSupport@ams.usda.gov