Detention Help Center
FDA Detention Help — Guides for Detained Import Shipments
Straight, plain-language guides for importers whose shipments have been detained by FDA. Understand your notice and its deadline, know your options, and see what the testing process actually involves — then bring us the notice and we'll work from it.
Start Here
Your Shipment Is Detained — Now What?
An FDA detention is not a refusal — it's a window. When FDA detains an entry, it issues a Notice of FDA Action with a respond-by date, and you have a limited time to overcome the appearance of a violation, usually with independent laboratory evidence on a properly sampled, custody-documented lot. The guides below explain the notice, the clock, your options, and what testing and removal really involve — honestly, including what these steps can and can't do.
Just Got a Notice
Understand Your Detention & Deadline
If your shipment was just detained, start here. These cover the notice itself, the first moves, the timeline, and the specific hearing notice.
FDA Notice of Action
What the notice is, what its fields mean, the respond-by deadline, and your response options.
Read the guide First StepsMy Shipment Was Detained
The first moves to make in the first days — who to contact, what to gather, and what not to do.
Read the guide TimelineDetention-to-Refusal Timeline
The clock from detention through response, release, or refusal — and where the deadlines bite.
Read the guide HearingNotice of Detention & Hearing
What the hearing notice means, the written-testimony opportunity, and how it differs from an alert detention.
Read the guideProcess, Cost & Timeline
What Testing & Removal Actually Involve
Deciding whether and how to fight a detention? These answer the practical questions — timing, cost drivers, lab requirements, and how release differs from getting off an alert.
How Long Testing Takes
What drives the timeline from sampling to a submittable result — and why perishable cargo changes the math.
Read the guide CostWhat Testing Costs
The factors that drive cost — analytes, number of products, accreditation — and how to think about it honestly.
Read the guide LabsFDA Private Laboratory Testing
What "private lab" analysis means to FDA, the LAAF requirement, and how methods are matched to the charge.
Read the guide RemovalHow to Get Off an Import Alert
Release vs. removal, the five-shipment idea, and what a removal petition actually requires.
Read the guide PetitionImport Alert Removal Petition
The removal project itself — what goes into a petition, and where testing supports versus where counsel leads.
Read the guide DirectoryImport Alert Directory
Look up the specific alert on your notice to see what it covers and the evidence it calls for.
Browse alertsNot sure where to start? The fastest path is to send your Notice of FDA Action — the charge and any alert number on it tell us exactly which of these apply to your case.
Detained Right Now?
Send Us the Notice — We'll Work From the Clock
Send your FDA Notice of Action with the charge, any alert number, and the respond-by date. You'll get a fast, honest read on your options and what coordination can do — while you still have time.
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. These guides are general information about the FDA import detention process and are not legal advice; procedures and timeframes can change, and the instructions and dates on your specific Notice of FDA Action control. 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.