FDA Import Refusals by Import Division, 2023 — Ranked by Division
In 2023, FDA recorded 3,516 import-refusal refusals — entry-level refusals of food consignments offered for import into the United States, one mechanism among the checks FDA runs at the US border. DSEI filed the most (823, 23.4%), ahead of DWCI (794) and DNEI (747). The total was up 3.0% on 2022 (3,412).
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Import divisions, 2023
| # | Import division | Rejections | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DSEI | 823 | 23.4% |
| 2 | DWCI | 794 | 22.6% |
| 3 | DNEI | 747 | 21.2% |
| 4 | DSWI | 708 | 20.1% |
| 5 | DNBI | 444 | 12.6% |
| Total | 3,516 | 100.0% |
Top origin countries, 2023
Where the refused entries came from — distinct from the import division above.
| # | Origin country | Rejections |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico | 647 |
| 2 | India | 608 |
| 3 | China | 292 |
| 4 | Canada | 175 |
| 5 | Vietnam | 169 |
| 6 | South Korea | 101 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 95 |
| 8 | Indonesia | 89 |
| 9 | Thailand | 83 |
| 10 | Guatemala | 63 |
| 11 | Japan | 62 |
| 12 | Philippines | 56 |
| 13 | Australia | 53 |
| 14 | Turkey | 53 |
| 15 | Taiwan | 52 |
| 16 | Colombia | 43 |
| 17 | Italy | 39 |
| 18 | United Kingdom | 37 |
| 19 | Brazil | 35 |
| 20 | Spain | 31 |
| 21 | Bangladesh | 30 |
| 22 | Costa Rica | 30 |
| 23 | Ecuador | 30 |
| 24 | Peru | 29 |
| 25 | Honduras | 25 |
| 26 | Dominican Republic | 24 |
| 27 | Israel | 24 |
| 28 | Chile | 23 |
| 29 | El Salvador | 22 |
| 30 | Hong Kong | 22 |
About FDA import refusals
What is an FDA import refusal?
An FDA import refusal is an entry that FDA examined, or sampled, and refused admission into US commerce — most often because it appeared adulterated or misbranded under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. It is an entry-level administrative action, not a finding of guilt and not an adjudication; the importer may recondition, re-export or destroy the goods.
What is the difference between the import division and the country of origin?
The import division is one of FDA's own operating divisions that processed the entry and issued the refusal. The country of origin is where the refused product was produced or shipped from. These pages rank import divisions by the number of refusals they issued, separately from the origin-country breakdown.
Do import refusals keep unsafe food out of the United States?
Yes, that is their purpose: refusing an entry at the border stops a non-compliant consignment from reaching US commerce. Not every refusal is a safety finding, though — roughly a quarter are labelling or registration failures rather than a hazard in the product itself, which is why this site counts hazard and paperwork refusals separately.
Is this the FDA annual report for 2023?
Not an official one. These figures are compiled from the public FDA Import Refusal Report — every entry refused for 2023, ranked by import division (3,516 in total). FDA does not itself publish a single annual refusals report in this form; the totals here update weekly and are one way of reading FDA's own published entry-level data.