The Malata African & Caribbean Market in the Bronx, NY, is a seafood importer found by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation. Inspectors from the FDA checked the facility on Oct. 2, 2015, and found imported fish and fishery products that were processed under conditions not equivalent to those required by domestic processors. Its smoked herring was found to be adulterated by FDA. In a Dec. 30, 2015, warning letter, FDA told co-owners Edward Slaw and Dills Wilson that Malata African & Caribbean Market must respond within 15 days or the agency could refuse admission of their imported product, which may be detained or seized. A second seafood importer, FHZ Trading Inc. based in Alhambra, CA , was the target of a Feb. 1, 2016, warning letter. FDA said as an importer of fish or fishery products, it is subject to seafood HACCP regulations. After it conducted an inspection on Oct. 7, 2015, FDA warned the company about specific requirements associated with importing fish or fishery products. “If assurances do not exist that the imported fish or fishery product has been processed under conditions that are equivalent to those required of domestic processors under 21 CFR Part 123, the fish or fishery products will appear to be adulterated under Section 402(a)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), 21 U.S.C. § 342(a)(4) and will be denied entry,” the warning letter says. FDA acknowledges that FHZ has HACCP plans for cleaned cable and frozen farm raised shrimp, but said it still has problems with sanitation monitoring records. The company was told it still has problems and could face “detention without physical examination,” or seizure of product(s) and/or actions to enjoin the firm from further violations. A seafood processing facility in Thailand was also warned. Owned by the Unicord Public Co., the facility was inspected by FDA Sept. 10-11, 2015. Serious violations were found, including seafood HACCPs that were not in compliance. “That inspection resulted in FDA’s issuance of an FDA-483, Inspectional Observations, listing the deviations found at your firm at the conclusion of the inspection,” said the Feb. 5, 2016 warning letter. “We acknowledge receipt of your response sent via email on September 29, 2015.Your response included various documents, including a revised HACCP plan for “Value Added Canned Tuna, HACCP monitoring records, training records, sanitation records, traceability records, and photos of corrections to the observations of concern noted on the FDA-483. However, our evaluation of the documentation revealed that the response was not adequate, as further described in this letter,” FDA continued. FDA went on to outline the significant deviations that continue, including in HACCP regulations, receiving frozen tuna, and pre-cooked fish processing. The foreign processor was given 30 days to respond to FDA concerns. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)