FDA releases prior-notice statistics
8 April 2004
FDA releases prior-notice statistics
The following article is excerpted from “The Journal of Commerce” edition of 7 April 2004.
Importers that file prior notice of food shipments required by the Food and Drug Administration under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 are most likely to provide incomplete data on the carrier and the owner of the cargo, according to a recent FDA report.
More than 40 percent of importers that filed through Customs' Automated Commercial System failed to provide identification of the carrier. Some 25 percent failed to list the manufacturer's registration number, arrival time and the name of the party submitting the data. …
The FDA has said that roughly half of the prior-notice submissions it receives are incomplete. Importers complained that the agency has provided no feedback to help improve compliance. The current report appears to address completeness of forms, but the FDA also notes that the data importers provide still can be complete, but not valid. …
The Bioterrorism Act requires importers of food, animal food and related products to give advance notice of arrival. Importers must file notice no more than five days before arrival, and the deadline differs by mode to coincide with deadlines that Customs set for advance manifest data.
The full report may be found at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~pn/pnsum.html.