What Taiwan's Cross-Border Brands Don't Know! 7 Key Questions for U.S. FDA Food Business Registration

Taiwanese brand owners who regularly export food products to the United States should pay attention! Under the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), all businesses engaged in the production, processing, packaging, and storage of food products are required to complete a U.S. FDA Food Business Registration. These businesses are also required to renew their registration from October 1 to December 31 of each even-numbered year and allow the FDA to conduct plant inspections.

It's unbelievable! Many cross-border brand owners have many misconceptions about the FDA registration process, so today we'll reveal the answers to 7 of the most frequently asked questions!

The first issue is about the time of registration. Instead of having to wait for a two-year renewal year to register, new food businesses must be registered before they begin their related business. Instead of waiting until October 1 of an even-numbered year, the initial registration can be done at any time. However, if the initial registration is filed before October 1 of an even-numbered year, it must still be renewed for that year's registration renewal period.

The biggest problem is that many businesses don't realize that food businesses don't get a new registration number during the registration renewal process, which helps maintain consistency in business identification.

Did you know that every business registration requires an FDA-recognized Unique Facility Identifier (UFI)? Each business registration requires an FDA-approved Unique Facility Identifier (UFI), and currently the FDA recognizes Dun & Bradstreet (D-U-N-S) as a UFI. Also, foreign businesses that are part of the same parent company can register using different U.S. agents, which gives businesses more flexibility.

Even more outrageous is the fact that changes in registration information must be submitted to the FDA within 60 days unless the 60 days fall within an even-numbered year of registration renewal. Warehouse facilities that change their food categories frequently can avoid frequent updates by selecting all the food categories they normally handle when registering.

One of the more confusing aspects of food labeling is that the FDA does not require or even encourage the listing of a business registration number on food labels to prevent improper use by others. At the same time, the FDA does not publicize specific information about food business registrations, only registration statistics. As of March 2024, there were 91,225 domestic food business registrations in the U.S. and 128,886 foreign food business registrations, with China having the largest number of food business registrations (including Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau), and Taiwan having 2,141 completed registrations.

If you are engaged in the manufacture, processing, packaging or storage of human or animal food for sale in the United States, you must complete an FDA food business registration, which is the basic threshold for entry into the U.S. market!

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# Cross-border Brand Merchants # Food Registration # Taiwan Sellers # U.S. Market Access # Food Compliance # Cross-border E-commerce # Global Store Opening # Amazon Sellers # Compliance # International E-commerce Platforms