US FDA Facility Registration for Food Laboratory to Food Laboratory Testing ?

Hi Everyone.

Our food consulting company has a food testing laboratory that collaborates with a US food testing laboratory for tests we cannot do ourselves. We were recently told that to send food samples for testing to the USA, we now have to register our laboratory as a US FDA Food Facility - we did not need to do this before. 

We started the registration process and stopped when we realized that we had to identify a 'US Agent' . As a laboratory, we do not export food for commercial sale or consumption, only for testing, so we do not have a US broker or distributor to serve as a 'US Agent'.

We asked the receiving US laboratory if they were willing to be named as our 'US Agent' for communication purposes but they declined.

Are there any other foreign food laboratories here who can suggest a solution to this problem ?

Thanks

You are a food consulting company? 

Yes. We provide consulting services to the food and beverage industry in our country as well as within the Caribbean. We also operate our own testing laboratories.

You need to stop and roll back to the beginning here --- we now have to register our laboratory as a US FDA Food Facility  ====  What entity informed you that  you had to register under this?????

Before you get all caught up in finding agents and getting into something that is going to cost you - I'd first go back and ask WHY.

I don't believe this is needed.