ASTA Member Briefing: FDA’s New Import Certification Requirement for Certain Indonesian Spices

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will begin requiring “import certificates” for all spices originating from the Indonesian Island of Java and Lampung Province on the Island of Sumatra due to the potential risk of contamination with Cesium-137 (Cs-137), effective October 31, 2025.

ASTA is convening a member briefing to discuss FDA’s new requirement. This presentation is for members only and will be held virtually.

Friday, October 10
12 p.m. ET 

During the session, officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will provide a briefing on what is known so far regarding the investigation of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) in spices from Indonesia and an overview of the agency's new import certification requirement for all spices from certain regions in Indonesia. Additionally, ASTA's Executive Director Laura Shumow and ASTA’s General Counsel, Maile Gradison of Hogan Lovells will discuss how this will impact companies importing spices from Indonesia and the Association’s ongoing efforts to collaborate with key government and industry stakeholders on this issue. Participants will have an opportunity to raise questions and concerns. 

Key Questions

1. Does the effective date of October 31 refer to the date of export or import? What about product in transit on the water now?
2. What is required to obtain an import certificate by a Certifying Entity? What will be evaluated for the purpose of issuing import certificates (e.g. testing of cesium 137)? What will the process be to issue/obtain import certificates? What will an import certificate look like? 
3. Is there a list of Certifying Entities?
4. Are the Indonesian government and FDA working together on the process of issuing import certificates?
5. Are the regions subject to Import Alert 99-52 referring to the raw material growing area or the production/processing/shipping area? 
6. How are spices defined for the purposes of the yellow list? Is there a specific list of commodities? What about derived products (e.g. extracts, oils)? 
7. What is known about the root cause of the contamination to date?
8. Would FDA possibly consider issuing an extension to the timeline to allow for time to implement the import certificate process, educate the exporter community and implement infrastructure to comply? 

Registration is now open for this event.  You must be logged in as a member to register. Registration will close on October 9. To inquire about late registration after this time, contact [email protected] 

This is a members-only webinar and is available at no cost.