U.S. Import Testing under FDA-LAAF
Has your shipment been detained from entering the U.S.?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the safety of most of the human and animal food consumed in the United States. An important aim of the FDA’s strategy for the safety of imported food is to assure Americans that food imported from abroad is held to the same food safety requirements as food produced domestically. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it.
If your product has been placed on “Import Alert”, the shipment may be ‘detained without physical examination’ (DWPE). This means the FDA will not exam the shipment, but in order to release the shipment, the FDA does require additional evidence that the product is suitable for entrance into the US. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) ruled that under these circumstances, this evidence must be obtained and provided by an accredited laboratory under the Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods (LAAF) program. OMIC USA, Inc. is accredited to this program by ANAB. See our accreditation page for certificate and testing scope.
The evidence obtained and provided by OMIC USA, Inc. to the FDA includes not only the testing results, but a magnitude of supporting documentation to ensure traceability of the analytical testing back to the sample collection of the detained shipment. This documentation demonstrates the sample(s) collected for laboratory testing are representative of the shipment size, handled accordingly to ensure integrity is maintained, testing methodology is applicable to commodity, and participating personnel have documented training and knowledge to perform the tasks at hand.
For more information about our testing capabilities for detained shipments, please contact our offices at sales.us@omicusa.com.
All testing must be submitted by OMIC USA directly to the FDA, regardless of outcome. Analytical testing does not guarantee release of the product, the sample may contain the contaminates of interest, or the FDA may still reserve the right to reject samples or testing.
Links to FDA
Resources:
FDA Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food
Import Alerts
Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods Program
