South Africa — Vitamins, Minerals, Proteins and Unconventional Dietary Specialties
South Africa received 14 FDA import refusals in Vitamins, Minerals, Proteins and Unconventional Dietary Specialties between 2023-Q4 and 2026-Q3. Volume peaked at 3 in 2024-Q1, with the trend falling year-on-year. The most-cited issues are unapproved new drug, establishment not listed, and foreign plant not registered. No trade baseline is published for this commodity from South Africa, so no per-$1B rate is shown here.
Exporting from South Africa? Get an email when shipments from South Africa 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 vitamins, minerals, proteins and unconventional dietary specialties from South Africa
- Hazard or paperwork
- Of 14 refusals in the last 3 years, 1 were hazard findings and 13 paperwork alone — most were avoidable at the desk.
- Where refusals happen
- DSEI — Southeast (7); DNEI — Northeast (6); DSWI — Southwest, the Mexican land border (1).
- Riskiest months
- February, May, June, by refusals since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- unapproved animal drug (1), veterinary drug residue (1).
- Paperwork to get right
- unapproved new drug (9), supplement labeling (3), foreign plant not registered (3).
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 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024-Q1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2024-Q2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024-Q3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024-Q4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2025-Q1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025-Q2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2025-Q3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025-Q4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026-Q1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026-Q2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Refusals | 1 refusal per | Per $1B US imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplements | 10 | — | — | unapproved new drug |
| Herbals-Botanicals | 4 | — | — | unapproved new drug |
"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
- EQN-0048610-3 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. establishment not listedno adequate directionsforeign plant not registeredunapproved animal drug+2 more
- 8B4-0011542-2 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. unapproved new drug
- BNI-0140285-6 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. unapproved new drug
- SCS-9887090-4 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- 9AG-0079345-7 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DSWI. supplement labelingfalse or misleading labeldietary ingredient labelingnutrition labeling+2 more
- SCS-7873053-2 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- 799-3402213-9 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. unapproved new drug
- BNI-0127704-3 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. establishment not listedno adequate directionsforeign plant not registeredunapproved new drug
- BNI-0126376-1 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DNEI. unapproved new drug
- 799-0037918-2 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. supplement labeling
- AEK-4805068-4 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unauthorized health claim
- 799-8929012-7 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DSEI. no standard nameplant part not declared
- 799-8175957-4 VITAMIN, N.E.C. Import division DSEI. establishment not listedforeign plant not registeredunapproved new drug
- 799-7873239-4 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. supplement labelingnutrition labelingunapproved new drug
- SCS-8968599-7 VITAMIN, N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- SCS-8907426-7 VITAMIN C (ASCORBIC ACID) Import division DNBI. unsafe color additivecolor not declarednutrition labeling
- 799-2911944-4 VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN) Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- AEK-1867990-0 VITAMIN, MINERAL, PROTEINS AND UNCONVENTIONAL DIETARY SPECIALITIES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS, N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- SCS-4876410-6 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. unapproved new drug
- AEK-9044163-2 HERBALS & BOTANICALS (NOT TEAS), N.E.C. Import division DSEI. new dietary ingredientunapproved new drug
Data and downloads
Download all 26 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 2026-08-05. To get new ones for South Africa by email, watch South Africa.
South Africa country report since 2020 — every refusal by year, charge and import division →