FDA Issues Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) Warning Letters
The FDA recently issued a series of warning letters citing companies for failure to comply with Foreign Supplier Verification Program requirements. In these cases, the FDA said the companies “did not develop, maintain, and follow an FSVP” for several imported food products sourced from foreign suppliers. There have been approximately 16 FSVP warning letters issued in January – April 2026, covering a range of imported foods. This represents a 67% increase above the same window in 2024 and 2025. The FDA warned the firms that failure to adequately address the violations could result in refusal of imported foods and placement on import alert, designated as Import Alert 99-41.
Specifically, Import Alert 99-41 involves the detention of human and animal foods imported from foreign suppliers by importers who are not in compliance with the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) Regulation. An importer may be added to the import alert (or Red List) because it appears that they are not in compliance with FSVP requirements for one or more foods. The specific foods from a specific foreign supplier may be included on the Red List to identify the food or foods that are subject to detention when imported by the FSVP importer. This import alert addresses only the FSVP importer and not the food and/or foreign supplier, which may be compliant with applicable requirements. In essence, the FSVP importer will not be allowed to import food into the US until removed from the Import Alert.
Posted in FDA and USDA Regulatory Update.