Update 04/27/2021 On April 23, President Biden signed the FASTER Act into law, requiring that all packaged food labels disclose sesame ingredients beginning January 1, 2023. Orignal Post 04/05/2021 Sesame is a common ingredient in many of the foods in the U.S.,...
Law & Regulatory
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) 2020 – Is your OTC Drug Company Ready?
UPDATE on Dec 30, 2020: FDA publishes new OTC drug user fees, read more here. Original Post Sept 9, 2020: On March 27, 2020, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to aid response efforts and ease the economic impact of...
GAO Study on FDA’s Seafood Import Alerts Released
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report that reviewed the steps FDA takes when removing seafood products from import alert. Although FDA intends to conduct a certain amount of sampling or inspections as part of their decision to remove a...
New Year, New Compliance for the Nutrition Facts Panel
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started 2020 off strong; on January 1, 2020, FDA required compliance with new food and dietary supplement labeling regulations for manufacturers with ten million dollars in annual sales. Manufacturers with less than ten million...
New US Tariffs on EU-Origin Products Announced
UPDATE 10/07/2019 The USTR gave notice that there will be no exclusions for importers of the EU goods subject to the retaliatory tariffs. The effective date of October 18, 2019, is based on the date of entry and not the date of export. So, to avoid the EU tariffs,...
Possible Resolution of Antidumping Duties on Mexican Tomatoes
Earlier this week the U.S. Commerce Department announced there is a new draft suspension agreement, which will avoid the need for antidumping duties (ADD). Their press release indicated that after a 30-day notice period, a final agreement could be signed on September...
Latest Information on List 4 Tariffs
Update 08/15/19The USTR has confirmed, as we expected, that the additional 10% will be applied based on entry date for both List 4A and 4B. Original Post 08/14/19On Tuesday, August 13th the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced additional details...
FDA Issues First Warning Letter for Failure to Comply with FSVP
FDA issued their first Warning Letter to an importer for not complying with the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) that was introduced 8 years ago with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). For this first Warning Letter, FDA selected a food importer that...
Coming Soon: FSVP Enforcement?
Last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a critical step towards enforcement of FSVP by creating Import Alert 99-41, "Detention Without Physical Examination of Human and Animal Foods Imported from Foreign Suppliers by Importers Who Are Not in Compliance...
The Trade War with China is Back On: List 4 Tariffs to be Imposed September 1st
On Thursday, August 1st President Trump announced that on September 1, 2019, he will impose a 10% import tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods (which may potentially rise to 25% in the future). These goods, known commonly as List 4, will include most products...