Mexico — Spices, Flavors, and Salts

Mexico received 27 FDA import refusals in Spices, Flavors, and Salts between 2024-Q1 and 2026-Q4. Volume peaked at 6 in 2026-Q1, with the trend rising sharply year-on-year. The most-cited issues are filth, unsafe color additive, and color not declared. No trade baseline is published for this commodity from Mexico, so no per-$1B rate is shown here.

Exporting from Mexico? Get an email when shipments from Mexico are refused at the US border — before your buyers ask.

One email a week, and only when something matches. We'll send a confirmation link first; unsubscribe any time from the footer of any email.

Key figures

If you import spices, flavors, and salts from Mexico

Hazard or paperwork: Of 29 refusals in the last 3 years, 25 were hazard findings and 4 paperwork alone.
Where refusals happen: DSWI — Southwest, the Mexican land border (23); DSEI — Southeast (4); DNEI — Northeast (2).
Riskiest months: October, February, August, by refusals since 2020.
Test for before shipping: filth (10), pesticide residue (7), Salmonella (3), unsafe color additive (3), lead (1).
Paperwork to get right: color not declared (3), label not conspicuous (2), labeling (2).

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

hazard findings labelling & registration

Show the numbers

Quarter	Refusals	Hazard	Paperwork
2024-Q1	5	4	1
2024-Q2	2	1	1
2024-Q3	2	2	0
2024-Q4	3	2	1
2025-Q1	0	0	0
2025-Q2	0	0	0
2025-Q3	0	0	0
2025-Q4	3	3	0
2026-Q1	6	6	0
2026-Q2	1	1	0
2026-Q3	3	2	1
2026-Q4	2	2	0

By commodity, last 156 weeks

Commodity	Refusals	1 refusal per	Per $1B US imports	Most-cited hazard
Spices-Other	29	511 t	509.6	filth
All products with import tonnes on record	29	511 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

AMH-0035885-6 2026-10-19 MIXED SPICES AND SEASONING WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DSWI. unsafe color additivecolor not declared
AEK-9864827-0 2026-10-07 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filth
8YJ-0023119-5 2026-08-25 MIXED SPICES AND SEASONING WITH SALT, N.E.C. Import division DSWI. unsafe color additivecolor not declared
U72-0540831-4 2026-08-10 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DNEI. filth
83U-1450602-8 2026-07-08 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. ingredients not listednot in Englishlabelingnutrition labeling
GH5-0180005-2 2026-05-28 CUMIN, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. poisonous or deleterious substance
GH5-0176962-0 2026-03-27 CUMIN, GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. lead
9L9-0248985-0 2026-03-23 BASIL (SWEET BASIL), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. Salmonella
E5H-0072156-9 2026-02-12 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. Salmonella
SCS-2132019-3 2026-02-11 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filth
918-5411536-6 2026-01-26 BAY (LAUREL), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. Salmonella
U72-0539535-4 2026-01-12 MIXED SPICE AND SEASONINGS, GROUND, CRACKED, WITHOUT SALT, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. filth
SCS-9007006-6 2025-12-16 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filth
8QN-0026807-8 2025-10-28 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), GROUND, CRACKED (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filth
799-5422100-0 2025-10-22 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSEI. filth
83U-1401948-5 2024-12-11 BASIL (SWEET BASIL), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. pesticide residue
83U-1399427-4 2024-10-28 BASIL (SWEET BASIL), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. listing refusal
E7S-0047910-3 2024-10-01 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filth
NWS-0016368-3 2024-07-30 SPICES, FLAVORS AND SALT NOT MENTIONED ELSEWHERE, N.E.C. Import division DSWI. unsafe color additivelabel not conspicuouscolor not declared
E7S-0046898-1 2024-07-09 CAPSICUMS (CAYENNE CHILI, HOT PEPPERS), WHOLE (SPICE) Import division DSWI. filth

Data and downloads

Download all 52 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 2026-10-19. To get new ones for Mexico by email, watch Mexico.

Mexico country report since 2020 — every refusal by year, charge and import division →