Portugal: FDA food import refusals, 2020–2025
← all origin reports · Portugal: refusals and rates, last 3 years →
Portugal was the origin of 114 of 22,156 US food import refusals in 2020–2025 (0.5%), ranking 35th of 146 origins. 18% were hazard findings and 82% paperwork alone. 68% concerned vitamins, minerals, proteins, and unconventional dietary specialties for humans; the most-cited safety charge was filth, and the most-cited paperwork charge false or misleading label.
Every US food import refusal naming Portugal as origin, 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025. A refusal is one import entry, however many product lines it carried. Download every table (CSV).
Exporting from Portugal? Get an email when shipments from Portugal 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.
By year
| Year | Refusals | Share of US total | Rank among origins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 6 | 0.2% | 56 |
| 2021 | 4 | 0.1% | 64 |
| 2022 | 9 | 0.3% | 49 |
| 2023 | 8 | 0.2% | 52 |
| 2024 | 17 | 0.4% | 38 |
| 2025 | 70 | 1.2% | 14 |
| 2020–2025 | 114 | 0.5% | 35 |
Year links open that year's refusals, entry by entry.
Tables below show each year 2020–2025; cells are shaded against their row's own peak. Change compares 2025 with 2020 and is shown only where 2020 had at least 10 refusals ("new" where it had none).
Hazard or paperwork
A refusal is a hazard finding when any of its charges is a safety one — filth, pathogens, residues, contaminants, unsafe additives — and paperwork when every charge is labelling, registration or a missing filing. One citing only charge codes FDA has not published is unclassified.
| Year | Hazard findings | Paperwork only | Unclassified | Hazard share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50.0% |
| 2021 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50.0% |
| 2022 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 55.6% |
| 2023 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50.0% |
| 2024 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 5 | 65 | 0 | 7.1% |
| 2020–2025 | 20 | 94 | 0 | 17.5% |
By industry
| FDA industry | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamins, Minerals, Proteins, and Unconventional Dietary Specialties for Humans rates → Herbals-botanicals · Supplements |
0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 59 | 77 (67.5%) | — |
| Dietary Conventional Foods and Meal Replacements | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 (7.0%) | — |
| Cheese and Cheese Products | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 (4.4%) | — |
| Fishery/Seafood Products rates → Fish-other · Squid-octopus |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 (4.4%) | — |
| Fruit and Fruit Products rates → Berries-grapes · Fruit-other |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 (3.5%) | — |
| Vegetables and Vegetable Products rates → Pepper · Vegetables-other |
0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 (3.5%) | — |
| Baby (Infant and Junior) Food Products | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 (2.6%) | — |
| Cereal Preparations, Breakfast Foods rates → | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1.8%) | — |
| Milk, Butter, and Dried Milk Products | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1.8%) | — |
| Chocolate and Cocoa Products | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (0.9%) | — |
| Macaroni and Noodle Products | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (0.9%) | new |
| Multiple Food Dinners, Gravies, Sauces, and Specialties (Total Diet) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (0.9%) | new |
| Snack Food Items (Flour, Meal, or Vegetable Base) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (0.9%) | — |
By charge group
A refusal citing charges in two groups counts once in each, so rows can add up to more than the total.
| Charge group | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labelling (paperwork) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 61 | 89 (78.1%) | — |
| Process and registration (paperwork) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 (9.6%) | — |
| Filth and insanitary conditions (hazard) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 (5.3%) | — |
| Pesticide residues (hazard) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 (3.5%) | — |
| Contaminants (hazard) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (2.6%) | — |
| Listeria monocytogenes (hazard) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 (2.6%) | — |
| Undeclared allergens (hazard) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 (1.8%) | — |
| Unsafe additives (hazard) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 (1.8%) | — |
Most-cited charges
FDA's own charge codes, with a plain-English label. Each is counted once per refusal.
Safety charges
| Charge | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
filth FILTHY |
0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | — |
pesticide residue PESTICIDE |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | — |
Listeria monocytogenes LISTERIA |
0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | — |
poisonous or deleterious substance POISONOUS |
0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | — |
undeclared allergen ALLERGEN |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | — |
unsafe color additive UNSAFE COL |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | — |
insanitary conditions INSANITARY |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
Paperwork charges
| Charge | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
false or misleading label FALSE |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 51 | 64 | — |
nutrition labeling NUTRIT LBL |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 | — |
labeling LABELING |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | — |
no net quantity LACKS N/C |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | — |
not in English NO ENGLISH |
3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | — |
no process filing NO PROCESS |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | — |
unapproved new drug UNAPPROVED |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | — |
unauthorized health claim HEALTH C |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | — |
label not conspicuous INCONSPICU |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | — |
no manufacturer name LACKS FIRM |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | — |
By month
Pooled across 2020–2025. Each row is shaded against its own peak, so its season shows whatever its size. Hazard findings peak in December; Paperwork only peak in December.
Hazard or paperwork
| Kind | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazard findings | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | December |
| Paperwork only | 12 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 16 | December |
By charge group
| Charge group | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labelling | 12 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 17 | December |
| Process and registration | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | January |
| Filth and insanitary conditions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | December |
| Pesticide residues | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | October |
| Contaminants | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | January |
Import divisions
The FDA division that handled the entry. DSWI and DNBI are the Mexican and Canadian land borders, so this says as much about the route as about the product.
| Division | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2020–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSEI — Southeast | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 46 | 56 | — |
| DWCI — West Coast | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 16 | 28 | — |
| DNEI — Northeast | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 22 | — |
| DNBI — North Border, the Canadian land border | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | — |
| DSWI — Southwest, the Mexican land border | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
Method
- Source: FDA Import Refusal Report (U.S. Food and Drug Administration); every food import refusal dated 2020–2025.
- Counts are import entries, not product lines. A refusal naming several origins counts once for each, so origin shares can add up to more than 100%.
- Charge groups are this site's grouping of FDA's charge codes; a code belongs to the first group that claims it, the same rule as the hazard pages.
- A charge is what FDA cited to refuse the entry, often on appearance or documents rather than a laboratory result. Counts depend on how often each product is examined, so they are not a rate of unsafe food.
- Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Cite as "Portugal: FDA food import refusals, 2020–2025", fruit-risk.com, 2026-09-20, https://fdair.fruit-risk.com/reports/portugal.html.
All origins together ·Honduras · Jordan · Myanmar · All origin reports