FDA Detention Sampling & Testing Services
About Us
We are an independent private company that coordinates one thing, carefully: sampling, chain of custody, independent laboratory testing, and documentation for FDA-detained import shipments. Not a law firm, not a laboratory, not a government agency — the coordination layer that makes the other parties work together.
Who We Are
FDA Detention Sampling is an independent private company — a Retro Consultants, LLC company — that coordinates sampling, chain-of-custody documentation, independent laboratory testing, and sample logistics for import shipments detained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or part of FDA, and we don't pretend otherwise anywhere on this site.
If you've read other pages here, you've noticed a pattern: we say "may" instead of "will," we list what we don't do next to what we do, and every page ends with the same disclaimer. That's not legal decoration — it's the position the company is built on. In a field where importers under deadline pressure get told what they want to hear, being the company that tells you what's actually true is the entire strategy.
Why This Company Exists
When an FDA Notice of Action arrives, the importer suddenly needs five things to happen in the right order, fast: a warehouse to authorize access, a qualified sampler to collect representative samples correctly, a laboratory with the right method and accreditation to be identified before collection, a courier to move sealed samples without breaking custody or cold chain, and every step documented well enough to survive scrutiny.
No single one of those parties manages the others. The warehouse doesn't call laboratories; the laboratory doesn't schedule samplers; the broker is busy with the entry itself. Importers end up coordinating a process they've never done, under a deadline, in a domain where small documentation mistakes quietly destroy the value of expensive testing.
That coordination gap is the job. We manage the sequence, the parties, and the paper — so the evidence your response depends on is collected once, correctly, and holds together.
Scope, Honestly
Both columns matter equally. Knowing what a coordination company doesn't do tells you which other professionals your case needs.
Many cases also need a customs broker, and some need a regulatory consultant or attorney. We work alongside those professionals routinely — see who does what in a case.
How We Operate
Laboratories are independent and issue their own reports. Samplers are documented in the custody record. We coordinate the process — we never touch the science, because the evidence is only credible if nobody with a stake in the outcome controls it.
"May," "coordinate," "subject to authorization" — you'll find those words all over this site, because outcomes belong to FDA and the facts, not to marketing copy. Any company promising you release is telling you something it cannot know.
Every sample identified, every seal numbered, every transfer signed and time-stamped, every case file organized. Detention evidence lives or dies on paperwork, so paperwork is treated as the product — not the afterthought.
Your FDA notice has a response window and your cargo accrues storage charges daily. Intake is reviewed promptly, urgent matters get priority, and the steps that can run in parallel do.
Brokers, consultants, and attorneys aren't competition — they're the people we hand clean evidence to. The case file is built so your professionals can actually use it.
Some locations can't be serviced, some products need different help, and some cases don't benefit from testing at all. You'll hear that at intake — before your money is spent, not after.
The Company
Retro Consultants, LLC also operates FDA Registration Assistance, a separate service supporting FDA facility registration and related compliance filings. The two services are independent of each other and of FDA.
Common Questions
No. FDA Detention Sampling is an independent private company with no affiliation, endorsement, or connection to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The name describes what we coordinate — sampling for FDA-detained shipments — not a relationship with the agency.
FDA makes the final admissibility decision on every entry, on its own review. No private company can influence, expedite, or represent that decision.
No. We don't provide legal advice, regulatory strategy, or representation before FDA, and we don't prepare or file petitions or submissions. Those are the domain of attorneys and regulatory consultants — professionals we routinely coordinate alongside.
Our lane is the physical and documentary work: samples collected correctly, custody maintained, laboratories matched, files organized.
No — deliberately. Testing is performed by independent laboratories using their own validated methods, and they issue their own reports. Independence is what gives the results credibility; a coordination company grading its own homework would defeat the purpose.
What we do is match your case to a suitable laboratory — method, capacity, and accreditation (including LAAF where applicable) — and manage the logistics between your cargo and their bench.
We're a registered U.S. company operating a nationwide coordination model rather than local branch offices. Case management is centralized; sampling resources, laboratories, and couriers are engaged wherever your cargo is held.
See service areas for how that works in practice, and contact us by phone, WhatsApp, or email — in English or Español.
Because the alternative is a company that doesn't. Detention services that promise release, guaranteed results, or "FDA-approved" testing are promising things no private party controls — and an importer who believes them makes worse decisions under deadline.
Accurate scope is what lets you build the right team for your case: us for coordination and evidence, your broker for the entry, a consultant or attorney where strategy is needed. That's how detentions actually get resolved.
Work With Us
Send your FDA Notice of Action, product details, and shipment location. You'll get an honest read on what coordination can do for your case — and what it can't — before any work begins.
Urgent detention matters receive priority intake review.
FDA Detention Sampling is an independent private company and a Retro Consultants, LLC company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We do not provide legal or regulatory representation. Sampling, laboratory testing, documentation, and coordination services do not guarantee FDA release, admissibility, acceptance of laboratory results, or any specific regulatory outcome. FDA makes the final admissibility decision.