An FDA import alert tells US port staff to detain certain products or shipments from named firms or countries without physical examination, unless the importer proves the goods comply. If a spice supplier is on one, your container is likely to be held on arrival in the USA.
You can check the FDA's import alert pages yourself before you order, and you should also look at the recalls database. Neither check replaces testing and supplier controls.
How to check a supplier against FDA import alerts
The FDA publishes its import alerts and a search tool online. Search the product type, the country of origin and the firm name, and note any alert that lists the firm or product. Read how to check a supplier against the FDA import alert list for the steps.
An absence from the list is a good sign but not proof. Alerts are added after findings, so a new supplier may have no record. Check the date of the last update and search again before each shipment. Also confirm that the facility is registered with the FDA, as the law requires for foreign food facilities.
What spice recalls from India tell you
Recalls and alerts about spices from India have involved contaminants such as Salmonella, undeclared allergens, lead and ethylene oxide. In 2024, regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore raised concerns about ethylene oxide in some spice mixes from India. Our article on why some Indian spice brands were recalled abroad, and what changed covers the follow-up.
The lesson is practical. Buy from a plant that can show its treatment process and test results, not just a clean sample.
Heavy metals in herbs and botanicals
Lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury can be present in herbs and botanical ingredients because they absorb metals from soil and water. Some spices, such as turmeric, have had separate issues with deliberate contamination to improve colour.
Testing for heavy metals is done by ICP-MS or a similar method at an accredited lab. Limits differ by market and product, and some are set in law while others are set by customers. Confirm the limit with your regulator, and ask for the result by lot. Stay at the raw ingredient level: this is about testing the ingredient, not making health claims.
Registration and prior notice
Foreign food facilities that make, process, pack or hold food for the US must register with the FDA, and the importer must submit prior notice of each food shipment before it arrives. Details are on the FDA website, and the rules include a US agent for the facility.
These are legal duties. Confirm with your customs broker which of them fall to you and which to your supplier, because a missing registration or prior notice can hold a container just as an import alert can.
If your supplier turns up on an alert
- Pause the order and ask the supplier for its corrective action in writing.
- Request recent test results from an independent lab on the product you are buying.
- Ask what changed in the process since the finding.
- Consider an audit, covered in what a factory audit should contain, before you restart.
- Tell your customs broker, since your shipments may be examined.
Next step
We check supplier records, audit the plant and have lots tested before loading. To discuss your US shipments, book a free sourcing review.