Import Alert Guide
Import Alert 99-05 — Raw Agricultural Products, Pesticides
A plain-language guide to FDA Import Alert 99-05, which allows detention without physical examination of raw agricultural products from listed growers due to illegal pesticide chemical residues. What it covers, the charge it carries, and what per-shipment testing evidence typically involves.
The Short Version
What Is Import Alert 99-05?
Import Alert 99-05 permits FDA to detain, without physical examination, raw agricultural products from individual growers on its Red List due to illegal pesticide chemical residues. It targets specific firms rather than whole countries — countrywide detention of raw agricultural products for pesticides is handled by the companion Import Alert 99-14. A pesticide residue is "illegal" when it lacks an established tolerance for that food, or exceeds the tolerance that does exist, rendering the product adulterated.
- Alert Number
- 99-05
- Products Covered
- Raw agricultural products from individual growers on the Red List — fresh produce, grains, and similar commodities
- Charge
- Adulteration — bears or contains a pesticide chemical residue (Section 402(a)(2)(B); refused under 801(a)(3))
- Mechanism
- Detention Without Physical Examination (DWPE), firm-specific Red List
- Countrywide Counterpart
- Import Alert 99-14 (raw agricultural products, countrywide)
- Official Text
- FDA Import Alert 99-05
The Background
Why Raw Agricultural Products Get Detained Under 99-05
Pesticides used on food crops are regulated through tolerances — the maximum residue levels EPA sets for a given pesticide on a given food, codified in 40 CFR Part 180. When a residue is present for which no tolerance has been established for that food, or the established tolerance is exceeded, the product is adulterated under U.S. law.
99-05 is the firm-specific alert for raw agricultural commodities: when FDA finds illegal pesticide residues in a grower's produce, that grower and product can be added to the Red List, after which its raw agricultural shipments are automatically detained. The parallel countrywide mechanism for raw agricultural products lives in Import Alert 99-14, and processed foods fall under Import Alerts 99-08 (firm-specific) and 99-15 (countrywide).
Because a firm may face multiple pesticide-related listings at once, FDA may expect a response to address all the residues for which the firm is subject to detention — not just the one that triggered a given entry.
The Evidence
What Per-Shipment Testing Typically Involves
To secure release of an individual detained shipment, the responsible party generally provides evidence that the specific product does not bear or contain pesticide chemical residues that are unsafe within the meaning of the law. That evidence commonly rests on private laboratory analysis of a representative sample under documented custody.
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Representative Sampling
Samples are collected from the detained lot under a documented plan and chain of custody, sized to the residue screen and the laboratory's requirements for the commodity.
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Residue Analysis Against Tolerances
An independent laboratory screens for the pesticide residues at issue and evaluates results against the applicable tolerances. FDA considers combined residues — including isomers, metabolites, and degradates listed in 40 CFR Part 180 — so the analysis must address the full residue picture, not just the parent compound.
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Your Team Submits
Results and custody records are organized into a case file; you and your authorized parties submit to the FDA compliance office named on the notice. FDA may collect audit samples before deciding, and makes the final admissibility decision.
Test the full residue picture. Because FDA weighs combined residues including metabolites and degradates, and a firm may be listed for more than one pesticide, the screen has to cover everything the firm is subject to — a partial panel can leave a shipment detained. The charge and the firm's listings define the scope. See our laboratory testing coordination guide.
Be Realistic
What This Alert Means in Practice
Honest limitations
- Perishability is a real constraint. Fresh produce has limited shelf life; the time to sample and complete residue analysis can be tight against how long a raw agricultural shipment stays saleable.
- Multiple listings compound the work. A firm subject to detention for several pesticides — sometimes across 99-05 and other pesticide alerts — may need a broader screen to clear a single shipment.
- Release is not removal. Winning release of one shipment does not take the grower off the Red List — future shipments are still detained until removal succeeds.
- Removal needs resolved root cause. Removal from the Red List requires documentation to FDA's Division of Import Operations showing the conditions that caused the violation were resolved — testing evidence supports it but does not by itself accomplish it.
Related
Related Alerts & Guides
Processed Foods — Pesticides
The processed-food counterpart to 99-05 — same pesticide concern, processed rather than raw commodities.
Read the guide IA 99-15Countrywide — Processed Foods, Pesticides
Countrywide pesticide detention for specified processed foods — detention by origin, not firm.
Read the guide IndustryProduce & Agricultural Testing
Category overview: common detention reasons for agricultural products and the testing they require.
View industriesProduce Detained Under 99-05?
Fresh Cargo Can't Wait — Start the Review Now
Send your FDA Notice of Action, the pesticide charge, and product and lot details. You'll get an honest, case-specific read on the residue panel and timing — critical when shelf life is the constraint.
Urgent detention matters receive priority intake review.
FDA Detention Sampling is an independent private company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This guide is a plain-language summary of Import Alert 99-05; the official alert text published by FDA is authoritative and controls. Sampling, laboratory testing, documentation, and coordination services do not guarantee FDA release, admissibility, acceptance of laboratory results, removal from any import alert, or any specific regulatory outcome. FDA makes the final admissibility decision.