What Vietnamese Seafood Companies Should Know Before Selling in the U.S.

Seafood is one of the more heavily documented categories in U.S. food import, and also one of the categories we work in most. The good news: the requirements are well established and predictable. The bad news: they're frequently misunderstood, and gaps usually surface at the worst possible time — when product is already at the port.

The pieces that typically apply

• FDA facility registration for the processing facility
• Seafood HACCP — a food-safety plan specific to seafood processing, separate from general FDA rules
• FSVP (Foreign Supplier Verification Program) — an obligation on the U.S. importer to verify the foreign supplier, not on you directly, but it affects what your importer will require from you
• Labeling requirements, including species identification and any country-of-origin rules
• Country- and species-specific import restrictions that can apply to certain seafood products

None of this needs to be a surprise. Most of it can be reviewed and prepared for well before a shipment is booked, with the right specialist confirming your facility and documentation are actually in order — not assumed to be.

The commercial side matters just as much

Compliance gets a product into the country. It doesn't get it onto a menu or into a distributor's warehouse. Cold-chain distributors are selective about new suppliers, and the relationship-building side of seafood market entry often takes longer than the regulatory side. Planning for both in parallel — instead of compliance first, sales later — is usually the difference between a six-month and an eighteen-month market entry.