Fact Sheet: FSIS Import Inspection and Failure to Present (FTP)

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public 

health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that imported meat, poultry, and processed egg products are 

safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged, based on the statutory authority of the Federal Meat 

Inspection Act (FMIA); the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA); and the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA). 

ALL SHIPMENTS of meat, poultry, and egg products that are offered for import into the United States must be 

presented for reinspection at a FSIS official import inspection establishment or at an alternative inspection 

location authorized by FSIS at the time of importation.

The importer of record (IOR) must: 

• apply for FSIS inspection of imported product and provide the application to FSIS no later than the time 

the entry is made with U.S. Customs and Border Protection;

• ensure that product offered for import is inspected by FSIS at the designated official import inspection 

establishment after the product has met U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and USDA- Animal 

and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) requirements at the Port of Entry. CBP’s conditional release 

of the shipment at the Port of Entry allows the shipment to transfer to the official import inspection 

establishment. It does not mean that FSIS import inspection requirements have been met;

• maintain awareness and control of imported product through the importation and border crossing process;

and

• work closely with the Customs broker, the official import inspection establishment, carriers, and any other 

agents in the supply chain acting on behalf of the IOR to ensure that FSIS import inspection requirements 

are met. 

The official import inspection establishment must:

• notify FSIS when the shipment is on the premises of the official import inspection establishment, so that

the whereabouts of the shipment is known.

FSIS will:

• reinspect the product and, if the product complies with FSIS requirements, authorize stamping of shipping 

containers with “U.S. Inspected & Passed.” 

If the shipping containers are not stamped with “U.S. Inspected & Passed,” or if, for product from Canada, the 

inspection certificate is not stamped, the product is not eligible to proceed in commerce. 

Failure to Present (FTP)

Any shipment of meat, poultry, or egg product that has entered commerce without FSIS import inspection violates 

the FMIA; the PPIA; or the EPIA, as well as the implementing regulations (9 CFR 327.6; 381.199; 590.925). 

Meat, poultry and egg products from outside the U.S. are considered "in-commerce" when they are off-loaded at a 

location other than the official import inspection establishment or other FSIS approved location designated on the 

import inspection application. FSIS considers such product to be in-commerce and a Failure to Present (FTP), 

and therefore ineligible for FSIS inspection. When a product has been identified as a FTP, FSIS will request, 

through CBP, a redelivery of the shipment and appropriate penalties. 

FTP product still in the original shipping containers may either be destroyed or returned to the country of origin. If 

any imported product identified as FTP has been removed from the original cartons or further processed, FSIS 

will initiate a regulatory control action on the product, including any further processed product that contains the 

FTP product, to ensure appropriate disposition (i.e., destruction). FSIS will likely request that the importer of 

record recall the FTP product.