In July a canned coconut milk producer in Rayong loaded two containers for Los Angeles with every document in order: invoice, packing list, health certificate, origin certificate. The containers were held on arrival and released eleven days later. The reason was not the product. The Prior Notice had been filed under a food facility registration number that had not been renewed in the previous renewal window, and the notification was therefore invalid.
Food is the one category where a separate agency sets its own clock. Customs releases the entry; the Food and Drug Administration decides whether the cargo may be distributed, and it decides before the cargo arrives.
The rule in one paragraph
Nearly every shipment of food for human or animal consumption needs Prior Notice submitted to the FDA before it reaches the United States: eight hours before arrival by sea, four hours by air or rail, two hours by road. The notice carries who is shipping, who is receiving, the manufacturer, the product and the lot. It can be filed by the importer, the US agent or the broker, but the data comes from the factory.
The registration behind it
A Prior Notice cannot be filed against a facility that is not registered, and food facility registrations have to be renewed every even-numbered year between 1 October and 31 December. I have now seen the same failure three times in two years: a factory ships continuously, nobody in the office notices the renewal window, and the first shipment of the new cycle is stopped. Nothing about the cargo changed. The number behind it did.
Two Thai and Vietnamese cases
- The expired number. The Rayong cannery above. The notification was submitted and accepted by the system, which does not check the registration against the label — it checks it when the entry is reviewed at the port. Eleven days, two containers, and a re-filing.
- The name that did not match. A cashew processor in Binh Duong shipped under its trading name while the registration carried the factory's legal name. The notice went through, the label carried a third version, and the shipment was flagged for follow-up. Fixing it was a letter; the delay was nine days.
Who does what
| Step | Done by | When | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facility registration | The factory, through a US agent | Before the first shipment, renewed every two years | No valid notice possible |
| Prior Notice | Importer, agent or broker | 8 h sea, 4 h air or rail, 2 h road before arrival | Cargo held, refused or exported |
| Entry and release | Broker | On arrival | Storage and exam costs |
| Label and lot data | The factory | With production | Notice rejected, or matched to the wrong lot |
Five places this breaks
- The registration lapsed and nobody noticed the renewal window.
- The factory name on the notice, on the registration and on the label are three different names.
- The lot or production date is missing, so the notice cannot be matched to the container.
- The forwarder is named as US agent without a written authorisation, and the FDA cannot reach anyone.
- Someone plans to file it after arrival. There is no after-arrival version of this rule.
A plain note from the desk: prior notice is not paperwork you finish at the port, it is a deadline you either meet at origin or miss. Keep the registration number in the same file as the health certificate, and check both before the booking.
Before the next food shipment, send us the registration number, the label artwork and the production dates on WhatsApp. We will check the number against the label and file the notice with the correct lead time, not the one left over at the cut-off.