Top 6 Imported Food Labeling Errors Causing FDA Detentions and Refusals

FDA cares about imported food labels, and so should you! Foreign food manufacturers often fail to realize the importance of having correct food labels on their imported food products. These simple food labeling mistakes  can be costly and time-consuming for manufacturers or importers to resolve, and can involve delayed shipments, missed deadlines, port and storage expenses, legal expenses, even FDA refusal and Customs fines and penalties.

FDAImports.com used FDA’s Import Refusal Reports to find data on all refused entries since 2011. Food that fails to meet the requirements mentioned in the chart below will be considered misbranded and consequently subjected to FDA import detention and refusal of admission.

1. “List Ingredient”: All food labels must include an ingredient list which discloses the common name of each ingredient.
2. “Color Labeling”: All food labels must properly declare any color additives present in the product.
3. “False”: All represents on the labeling (including words and pictures) must not be false or misleading, in any particular. This charge can encompass issues such as claiming a food can cure cancer or wrongly declaring the nutrient content of a food
4. “Inconspicuous”: All required information on the labels must be “prominently placed” in a “conspicuous” manner. This charge can encompass issues such as failing to bold text, using a wrong font size, or putting text in the wrong location, etc.
5. “Dietary Label”: Dietary supplement labels must identify the product as a “dietary supplement.”
6. “Allergen”: All food labels must declare any major food allergens present in the product.

FDA inspectors detect non-compliant labels more easily than any other food problem, since they only need to look at the label. This is an inexpensive, fast, and effective enforcement action for FDA.

This finding represents a valuable lesson to food manufacturers and distributors. It is essential that foods, beverages, and dietary supplements are properly labeled – considering ingredient and product names, declaration of additives and allergens, truthfulness and substantiation of claims, and proper formatting.

Make our comprehensive food label reviews a part of your production routine, both while designing and before finalizing your product labels. Contact us today for comprehensive and in-depth legal and regulatory reviews on your food and dietary supplement labels.