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Food, Plants and Animal Products

Bring fresh produce or meat into the US or the EU and see which certificates and filings the goods call for, which invoice lines each certificate covers, and what the documents give the filer.

You import fresh vegetables into the United States. For one container of okra, chillies and garlic from India, your supplier has sent a commercial invoice, a packing list, a bill of lading and one phytosanitary certificate. Before the container arrives, you want to know whether the file holds every certificate these goods need. Here is how CargoLint helps you answer that, line by line, and where the call stays yours.

“How does CargoLint know these goods are regulated?”

From the HS codes declared on the documents. CargoLint matches them against regulated-goods lists, kept by hand from the regulators’ own texts, one per agency: the US FDA, USDA APHIS (plants and plant products, live animals) and USDA FSIS (meat, poultry, catfish and egg products), Canada’s CFIA, the EU’s plant health and animal health controls, and Great Britain’s border controls on animals and animal products. These lists are read for the shipment’s destination, so the shipment needs one: if no document names it, use Set destination.

On the shipment’s Expected Documents card, the Regulated goods fact names each agency whose list matched, with the HS code and the document it was read from. Here it reads “FDA, USDA-APHIS”. Lists read: names each list with the date it was last reviewed. The fact cannot be declared: if a code is missing or wrong, correct it on the invoice and the checklist follows.

See Compliance & Screening Checks and How to Manage HS Codes.

“Which certificates does the checklist expect for them?”

Each match adds a row for what the list names, citing the agency and the regulation behind it. For the vegetables, the USDA APHIS list adds a Phytosanitary Certificate row. Expanded, its note says what the list names (for fresh fruits and vegetables, a phytosanitary certificate where APHIS’s commodity requirements ask for one), the HS codes and the document they were read from, and that the HS code alone does not settle it. “Applies when the goods are on the USDA-APHIS list.” gives the condition, and Sources: links to the list’s source. List rows are always graded Info.

Where the destination’s profile has its own row for an agency, the list adds no second one. In the US profile, that is FDA prior notice for goods on the FDA list and the Foreign meat inspection certificate for goods on the FSIS list. The EU profile asks for the Phytosanitary certificate and CHED-PP pre-notification (plants) for plants, and the Official certificate (animals and products of animal origin) and CHED pre-notification (animals and products of animal origin) for animals and animal products.

See Expected Documents and Destination Profiles.

“One certificate, three lines. Which ones does it cover?”

A certificate row is read line by line. Invoice lines this applies to lists each invoice line whose HS code matched the row’s list, and the certificates covering it. CargoLint proposes which lines each certificate covers from the words their lines share: the product, a botanical name or a species. A proposed link reads “(proposed)”.

To confirm, find Lines … covers for the certificate, tick the lines it covers, clear the ones it does not, and click Confirm lines. The shipment is checked again, and CargoLint stops proposing for that certificate. Back to CargoLint’s proposal discards your confirmation.

“The certificate names okra and chillies. Why is the garlic line Cannot tell?”

While any certificate’s lines rest on CargoLint’s proposal, a line no certificate covers makes the row Cannot tell, so a match the words missed never reads as a gap. Once every certificate’s lines are confirmed, the uncovered line reads “no document covers it” and the row is Missing.

When CargoLint can propose no line for any certificate and nobody has confirmed one, the row is read as a whole: the certificate’s presence is what counts. Its lines are listed as “not linked to a document yet”, so you can confirm them and have the row read line by line.

See Expected Documents.

“The garlic certificate is with my broker. How do I say so?”

Expand the row and use Mark as:

  • Acknowledged - seen, and it will be handled.
  • Provided outside CargoLint - the certificate exists and is held elsewhere, for example by your broker or the exporter.
  • Not applicable… - the row does not apply to this shipment, with the reason (required, up to 500 characters).

The row moves to Handled and shows who marked it and when; Clear removes the mark. A mark never changes what the checklist computes: the status underneath stays what the documents say. When the certificate itself arrives, upload it with Add documents on the shipment page. A shipment keeps every certificate for particular goods active, so the second sits beside the first and the lines are read again.

See Working with Expected Documents.

“Does CargoLint check the certificate itself?”

Yes, as a document of its own. A phytosanitary certificate is checked for the produce it covers, a botanical name on each produce line, the place of origin, the issuing organization and the officer’s signature. A health certificate is checked for the products it covers, their establishment numbers, the country of origin, the official veterinarian and the signature. Findings appear in the certificate’s Document Issues panel. Certificates pre-printed in several languages are judged on what was filled in. The checks say what a certificate carries and what it lacks; they do not rule on whether it is valid.

See Document Types CargoLint Supports.

“The vegetables are food. What about FDA prior notice?”

Goods on the FDA list bring the US profile’s FDA prior notice row, under Filings and markings. Expanded, it lists the elements of 21 CFR 1.281(a) and sums up how many the documents give. Each element is read from where it lives: the common or usual name, quantity, manufacturer or grower and country of production of each line, the importer and the ultimate consignee from the invoice; the shipper from the transport document; by sea, the bill of lading number, vessel and voyage and container numbers; by air, the air waybill number and flight. The rest are marked not read, each with the reason, such as the FDA product code: “FDA product codes are not on commercial documents, and the HS code does not settle one.”

The row stays a note whatever its elements say. CargoLint does not file prior notice: the row shows how much of the filing your documents support, for whoever files it. In the EU, the CHED-PP or CHED pre-notification is listed under Filings and markings as well.

See Is My File Ready for the Filing? and Expected Documents.

“Does a missing certificate hold up the shipment?”

No. The card is advice: a missing row is graded Info or Warning and never counted in the shipment’s status, so a shipment can read Consistent with a certificate still missing. Whether a certificate is required for your goods and their origin stays your call, and your broker’s.

What’s next

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