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 not, the goods must be reexported or destroyed, under U.S. 

 Customs supervision. 



When an imported product is found to be repeatedly violative, 

 or if it has been found to be a serious health hazard, FDA may 

 detain all future shipments of that product without sampling (a 

 policy known as "automatic detention") , until the shipper, 

 producer, or responsible government agency of the exporting 

 country produces evidence to FDA's satisfaction that the 

 shipments conform with the requirements of the FD&C Act. 



In fiscal year 1992, FDA visually examined over 8,100 carefully 

 targeted imported seafood entries or "lots," and tested 

 approximately 7,300 lots for filth, microbiological or chemical 

 contaminants, heavy metals, pesticides, and parasites. We also 

 looked for false labeling that would result in economic fraud. 



As with domestic products, we have been frequently asked 

 whether we physically examine enough import entries. It has 

 been pointed out that FDA physically examines less than 5 

 percent of all "lots" of seafood offered for import. This 

 figure is generally accurate but is not the whole story. 

 First, "lots" vary significantly in size and cannot be equated 

 with poundage or any other unit of measurement. Also, the 

 figure does not take into account the representative nature of 

 the examinations, the targeting of specific lots based on 



