The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ended its policy of enforcement discretion for foreign food facilities, This had previously provided the option to select “pending” for food facility registrations.

The FDA is now beginning to cancel registrations and block imports of food from facilities that have not provided a Unique Facility Identifier (UFI).

The FDA requires facilities to provide a UFI recognized as acceptable by the FDA. Currently, the FDA recognizes the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) as acceptable. In October, 2020, the FDA announced that it would provide the option to select the “Pending UFI Option” for food facility registrations to allow sufficient time for registrants to obtain a DUNS number. That time has now arrived.

If a foreign food facility is not registered with a recognized UFI, the food being imported or offered for import into the US from the foreign facility may be held at the port of entry until the foreign facility is registered appropriately.

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