China — Spices, Flavors, and Salts
China received 30 FDA import refusals in Spices, Flavors, and Salts between 2023-Q4 and 2026-Q3. Volume peaked at 6 in 2025-Q1, with the trend falling sharply year-on-year. The most-cited issues are filth, refused establishment inspection, and pesticide residue. No trade baseline is published for this commodity from China, so no per-$1B rate is shown here.
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Key figures
If you import spices, flavors, and salts from China
- Hazard or paperwork
- Of 29 refusals in the last 3 years, 25 were hazard findings and 4 paperwork alone.
- Where refusals happen
- DWCI — West Coast (20); DNEI — Northeast (6); DNBI — North Border, the Canadian land border (3).
- Riskiest months
- March, January, April, by refusals since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- filth (12), Salmonella (4), pesticide residue (3), refused establishment inspection (3), poisonous or deleterious substance (2).
- Paperwork to get right
- no manufacturer name (3), listing refusal (2), no net quantity (1).
FDA does not publish how many entries it examines, so no page can state a true probability of refusal; these are the figures that are published.
Quarterly refusals, last 12 quarters
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Refusals | Hazard | Paperwork |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-Q4 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2024-Q1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024-Q2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024-Q3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2024-Q4 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2025-Q1 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 2025-Q2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025-Q3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2025-Q4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026-Q1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q2 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Refusals | 1 refusal per | Per $1B US imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spices-Other | 29 | 6,126 t | 119.1 | filth |
| All products with import tonnes on record | 29 | 6,126 t |
"1 refusal per X t": tonnes of the same product imported for every one, over the same 156 weeks. A dash means fewer than 5 in the window, or under 1,000 t a year imported, too few to rate; the total row pools every product that has import tonnes on record.
Recent refusals
- BDD-0834569-2 FIVE SPICE MIX, GROUND, CRACKED, WITHOUT SALT Import division DWCI. filth
- BTF-4056050-6 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filthSalmonella
- EJ2-0204328-0 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- DZ1-1180669-8 CINNAMON, CASSIA, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. poisonous or deleterious substance
- E37-0255986-4 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNBI. refused establishment inspection
- E37-0255948-4 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNBI. refused establishment inspection
- EUG-0047431-2 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. pesticide residue
- NFT-2050925-2 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNBI. ingredients not listedno net quantitynutrition labeling
- HK1-2500586-6 FENNEL, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- 336-4373514-1 NATURAL EXTRACT OR FLAVOR, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. listing refusal
- DP4-3897856-2 PEPPER, BLACK, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. refused establishment inspectionlisting refusal
- W33-2403689-4 PAPRIKA, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- W33-2403565-6 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- KM6-1624373-9 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- W33-2403520-1 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. Salmonella
- K79-0185677-6 PAPRIKA, WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filth
- U47-2411190-9 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DNEI. pesticide residue
- EUG-0038242-4 PEPPER, MIXED, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DWCI. pesticide residue
- KM6-3633794-1 MIXED SPICES AND SEASONING WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. aflatoxin
- NFT-2041164-0 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DWCI. filthno manufacturer namenot in English
Data and downloads
Download all 71 entries (CSV) — every refusal behind this page, with its import division, FDA product code, charges and whether it was a hazard finding or paperwork.
The file holds entries up to 2026-09-10. To get new ones for China by email, watch China.
China country report since 2020 — every refusal by year, charge and import division →