Import Alert Guide
Import Alert 99-08 — Processed Foods, Pesticides
A plain-language guide to FDA Import Alert 99-08, which allows detention without physical examination of processed human and animal foods from listed firms 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 99-08?
Import Alert 99-08 permits FDA to detain, without physical examination, processed human and animal foods from firms on its Red List due to illegal pesticide chemical residues. It is the processed-food, firm-specific member of FDA's pesticide alert family — countrywide detention of processed foods for pesticides is handled by the companion Import Alert 99-15. A residue is "illegal" when it lacks an established tolerance for that food, or exceeds the tolerance that exists, rendering the product adulterated.
- Alert Number
- 99-08
- Products Covered
- Processed human and animal foods from individual firms on the Red List
- 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 99-15 (processed foods, countrywide)
- Official Text
- FDA Import Alert 99-08
The Background
Why Processed Foods Get Detained Under 99-08
Pesticides on food are regulated through tolerances — the maximum residue levels set for a given pesticide on a given food, codified in 40 CFR Part 180. When a processed food bears a residue for which no tolerance is established for that food, or exceeds the established tolerance, it is adulterated under U.S. law.
99-08 compiles the processed human and animal foods that may be detained without physical examination for illegal pesticide residues from specific firms. When FDA finds such residues in a firm's processed product, the firm and product can be added to the Red List, after which its processed-food shipments are automatically detained. The parallel countrywide mechanism for processed foods is Import Alert 99-15, while raw agricultural products are handled by 99-05 (firm-specific) and 99-14 (countrywide).
Because a firm may be listed for more than one pesticide, FDA may expect a response to address all the residues for which the firm is subject to detention — not only the one that triggered a particular 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 — commonly 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 processed product.
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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.
Match the panel to the firm's listings. Because FDA weighs combined residues and a firm may be listed for several pesticides, the screen has to cover everything the firm is subject to under this alert — 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
- Multiple listings compound the work. A firm subject to detention for several pesticides — sometimes across 99-08 and other pesticide alerts — may need a broader screen to clear a single shipment.
- Processed does not mean simpler. Residues can concentrate or persist through processing, and the analysis must still address the full combined-residue picture FDA considers.
- Release is not removal. Winning release of one shipment does not take the firm 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 causing the violation were resolved. Testing evidence supports it but does not by itself accomplish it.
Related
Related Alerts & Guides
Raw Agricultural Products — Pesticides
The raw-commodity counterpart to 99-08 — same pesticide concern, raw rather than processed.
Read the guide IA 99-15Countrywide — Processed Foods, Pesticides
The countrywide counterpart to 99-08 — processed foods detained by origin rather than firm.
Read the guide IndustryProcessed & Packaged Food Testing
Category overview: common detention reasons for processed foods and the testing they require.
View industriesProcessed Food Detained Under 99-08?
Bring Us the Notice — We'll Scope the Right Residue Panel
Send your FDA Notice of Action, the pesticide charge, and product and lot details. You'll get an honest, case-specific read on which residues to test and what coordination can do — before any commitment.
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 99-08; 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.