The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added more than 20 seafood companies to its import alert list so far in 2023.
The import alerts, which range in type from non-compliance with HACCP to a suspicion there is a high chance for botulism, allow the FDA to detain all seafood products shipped from the companies at the border without any physical examination of the product.
In addition to the import alerts, the FDA has also updated some the guidance on several seafood-related alerts
So far in 2023, the FDA has added two companies under Import Alert 16-120, “Detention Without Physical Examination of Fish/Fishery Products from Foreign Processors (Mfrs.) Not in Compliance with Seafood HACCP.” The first, added 12 January, was Nicaragua-based CR Grupo Comercial Alvacora, a producer of sea cucumber and other aquatic species. The second was U.K.-based Smoked Salmon Unlimited, which was added to the list on 13 March for its cold-smoked salmon products.
Two companies have been added under Import Alert 16-124, "Detention Without Physical Examination Of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due To Unapproved Drugs.” China-based Anhui Yuehua Green Food was added to the import alert on 17 March for use of chloramphenicol in fresh water crayfish. The second company, India-based Mangala Seafoods, was added on 25 January for use of chloramphenicol in shrimp and prawns.
Three companies have been added under Import Alert 16-74, which relates to uneviscerated or partially eviscerated fish that are either “salt-cured, dried, smoked, pickled, fermented, or brined.” Two Kenya-based companies were added on 13 March, Kevefein Agencies and Margaret Mongare. The third company, Vietnam-based Branch Duc Thanh Seafood Company, was also added on 13 March for anchovy.
Six companies have been added so far in 2023 for Import Alert 16-81, which relates to the presence of salmonella in products.
Bangladesh-based Premium Fish & Agro Industries, which already had an import alert for eel, was hit for more species on 20 March when sardines and shad were added. Hong Kong-based Manwill Trading Development Co. and Nicaragua-based Baits & Seafoods were added to the list 10 January for dried flounder. Thailand-based CK Frozen Fish & Food was added to the import alert list on 16 February for multiple species, including sardines. The newest addition on the import alert is Vietnam-based Van Thinh Trading Company, which was added on 21 March, for snapper.
One company has been added to Import Alert 16-105, which relates to fish and fishery products that have been detained due to decomposition “and/or histamine and/or indole.” Indonesia-based Pt. Bahari Prima Manunggal was added on 9 January, with all its tuna products subject to detention due to issues with decomposition and histamine.
Import Alert 16-119, which relates to domestic U.S. companies that can be examined “for importer and foreign processor combinations,” has had one company added so far in 2023. Jas International, based in Rosedale, New York, United States, was added on 3 March. All seafood products shipped to the U.S. are now subject to detention “when in combination with any foreign processors.”
Two related companies were added to Import Alert 16-125, which relates to the potential for botulinum toxin in refrigerated, non-frozen seafood in reduced oxygen packaging. Het Urker Zalmhuys and Zalmhuys Processing, both based in Flevoland, Netherlands, were added for salmon in a “vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging.”
Indian shrimp exporter Suryamitra Exim and Ecuadorian shrimp exporter Propemar were recently added to Import Alert 16-129, relating to nitrofurans presence in seafood products. More companies have been added since, with India-based Falcon Marine Exports added to the list for shrimp exports on 8 March, and India-based Mangala Seafoods – which was already added to an import alert on 25 January for use of chloramphenicol – was added to the nitrofurans alert on 1 March.
Multiple companies from India have also been added to Import Alert 16-35, which relates solely to raw and cooked shrimp from India. The import alert has existed since 1979 following a “high violation rate in Indian shrimp” that requires firms to be exempt from detention.
India-based Cofoods Processors Private was added on 21 March for a variety of raw and frozen shrimp types, Devi Fisheries was added on 3 February for shrimp and prawns that have been heat-treated, and Kade Exports was added on 10 January for a number of different aquaculture and wild-caught shrimp products.
Finally, one product has been added to Import Alert 16-39, which covers ready-to-eat seafood that can contain Listeria monocytogenes, so far in 2023. China-based Fuqing Huaxin Food was added for aquaculture-harvested eel products on 6 February.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
