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Draft Guidance for Industry: Recommendations for Collecting Representative Samples for Food Testing Used as Evidence for Release of Certain Fish and Fishery Products Subject to Detention Without Physical Examination (DWPE) and Removal of a Foreign Manufacturer’s Goods from DWPE

DraftHuman Foods Program02/05/2024

Description

This guidance is intended to provide recommendations for collecting a representative sample for testing when fish and fishery products are subject to detention without physical examination (DWPE) due to the appearance of adulteration caused by pathogens, unlawful animal drugs, scombrotoxin (histamine), and/or decomposition. This guidance is also intended to help foreign manufacturers and other processors of fish and fishery products subject to DWPE under an import alert (IA) to introduce evidence to FDA to support a request to have products removed from DWPE.  This guidance does not apply to seafood-related import alerts when sampling and testing is not relevant to securing release of individual shipments or removal from DWPE.

Scope & Applicability

Product Classes

5
Fish and Fishery Products

The primary product category covered by the sampling recommendations.; Products subject to detention without physical examination; Subject to detention without physical examination (DWPE)

Finfish

Specific fishery product listed in Appendix B

Shrimp

Specific fishery product listed in Appendix B

Scombrotoxin-Forming Fishery Products

Specific category of fish subject to higher confidence levels for decomposition

Siluriformes fish

Category including catfish, tra, swai, and basa, which are excluded from this guidance.

Stakeholders

4
Foreign manufacturer

Entity that may request removal from DWPE.; Entity requesting removal from DWPE

Consignee

The party receiving the imported goods, responsible for submitting evidence.

LAAF-accredited laboratory

Laboratories accredited under the Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods program.

Sampler

The individual or entity responsible for collecting the sample units.

Regulatory Context

Attributes

5
Representative sample

A characteristic of sampling required to ensure statistical confidence.

90% confidence

Level of confidence for decomposition in non-scombrotoxin-forming products

95% confidence

Methods that provide a level of confidence such as a 95% confidence of detecting L. monocytogenes.

Sample unit amount

Recommended weight of product per sample unit

Production Code

Identifier used to group products with the same history of exposures.

Identified Hazards

Hazards

6
Pathogen

Adulteration link that triggers DWPE.

Unlawful Animal Drugs

Basis for sampling recommendations to detect adulteration

Pathogens

Microbiological hazard causing adulteration; Sampling recommendations for detecting contamination

Unlawful animal drug

Adulteration link that triggers DWPE.

Scombrotoxin

Also known as histamine; a hazard in fish products.; Safety hazard in fishery products; Histamine contamination in fishery products

Decomposition

A condition leading to the appearance of adulteration.

Related CFR Sections (5)

See Also (8)