U. S. Food and Drug Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
Office of Cosmetics and Colors Fact Sheet
September 24, 2001; Revised December 26, 2002 and December 13, 2006
Import Refusals and Import Alerts
Involving Color Additive Violations
The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act authorizes FDA to detain a regulated product that appears
to be out of compliance with the Act. Color additive violations are one reason for such
detentions.
The purpose of an Import Alert is to identify and disseminate import information (problems,
violative trends, etc.) to FDA personnel, thus providing for more uniform and effective import
coverage. Import Alerts identify problem commodities and/or shippers and provide guidance for
import coverage. They also identify products or shippers that have met the criteria for
Detention Without Physical Examination.
Import Refusals and Import Alerts involving color additives are listed on FDA's Web site
according to the product category in which the color additive violation occurs.
To learn what products have been detained upon entry into the U.S., check FDA's list of
Import Refusals, which is
updated monthly.
For your convenience, we have provided links to color-related Import Alerts below. We review
this list regularly to keep it up to date; however, we recommend that you also access FDA's
Import Alert Web page to
make sure you have the latest information on this subject.
- Detention Without
Physical Examination of Illegal Shipments of Dial Soap Manufactured in Foreign Countries
October 28, 2002
- Detention Without Physical
Examination and Increased Surveillance of Dried Fruits June 28, 2001
- Detention Without Physical
Examination of Henna Based Skin Color August 5, 1997
- Detention Without Physical
Examination and Guidance of Foods Containing Illegal and/or Undeclared Colors May 20, 1996
- Automatic Detention of
Cosmetics Containing Illegal Colors March 7, 1996
- Automatic Detention of Eye
Area Cosmetics Containing Kohl, Kahal, or Surma January 26, 1996
- Intensified Coverage of
Temporary Tattoos Containing Non-Permitted Color Additives and/or Failing to Bear Ingredient
Declarations May 23, 1994
- Automatic Detention of
Eyelash and Eyebrow Dyes Containing Coal Tar Dyes December 4, 1992
- Automatic Detention of
Black Hair Cream from the Dominican Republic December 12, 1991
- Automatic Detention of
Oral Tanning Tablets February 13, 1991
Color Additives
Foods Home
|
FDA Home
|
Search/Subject Index
|
Disclaimers & Privacy Policy
|
Accessibility/Help
Hypertext updated by bxm/cjm/dms/dav 2006-DEC-13