US FDA Facility Registration for Food Testing Laboratories

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.

Thanks Glenn for your feedback.

In response to your question "What entity informed you that  you had to register under this?????" I should give a bit of background and explanation.

About 3 months ago our food laboratory noticed that food samples routinely sent to the US lab for testing were being refused entry at the US border. All documentation, labelling, packaging were as required and were the same for previous food samples of the same type, which were allowed to enter.

We tried to obtain information from the US authorities regarding the reason for the denial but we were not given any clear feedback. 

In an effort to find out what we needed to improve, we contacted another local company similar to ours and asked if they were having the same issues. It was this company that advised us that they had to register with the US FDA to have their samples allowed entry now. They were not previously registered and only recently had to do so. They are fortunate to have a company in the US that was willing to serve as a US Agent for them. We are still trying to resolve that challenge.

I have done some online research and have not found any conclusive answer to whether we need to really be registered. I have sent an email to US FDA at FURLS@fda.gov to query whether we really do need to register - I am still awaiting their response.

I thought in the interim I would reach out to the IFSQN community to see if anyone here had any insights.

Thank you to all who have been trying to assist - it is really appreciated. 

Can you partner with someone in the US and have them send the samples to the lab? 

Is your customer based off of Trinidad? 

Can you partner with someone in the US and have them send the samples to the lab? - We are planning to send the samples we currently have through our customer who manufactured the samples and is registered with the US FDA. However not all our customers are registered with US FDA which is why we are also trying to establish a US connection for our company.

Is your customer based off of Trinidad? - Yes