Sending food to the US

Thursday, November 27, 2003

All food shipments to the United States must be preceded by prior notice of shipment, effective from 12 December, reports the Cayman Islands Postal Services on behalf of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

All food articles shipped for commercial purposes or as commercial gifts are affected. They include, but are not limited to: food for people or animals, dietary supplements, nutritional supplements, vitamins, food and colour additives.

Food that is not commercially prepared is exempt from submission of prior notice. This includes food prepared by individuals in their own homes and sent to another individual as a (non-commercial) gift.

Prior notice can be submitted on https://www.access.fda.gov/index.html#prior. Once the information is entered a confirmation number will be issued.

The US Food and Drug Administration stresses that mail shipments containing articles of food for which a prior notice confirmation number is not entered on the customs declaration may be returned to the sender, or if no return address is included it will be destroyed.

The new regulation was issued by the FDA and falls under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.

For additional information visit http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsbtac13.html.

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