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What are the requirments for importing tea, coffee and spices for commercial purposes?
Imports of tea, coffee, and spices are subject to review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)and their admissibility is determined by the FDA. You may want to contact the FDA to obtain instructions on how to label the products (i.e., ingredients, nutrition, content etc.). FDA can be reached at (301) 436-2413 or www.fda.gov. All commercial imports of food products require the filing of Prior Notice with FDA, and foreign manufacturers and/or distributers of food products must register with the FDA before their goods may be admitted. There are no restrictions or quotas on coffee, tea, and spices whether bottled, brewed or packaged, which means there is no limit to the amount you can import into the U.S. However, some products which contain these items may be subject to some restrictions or special duties (e.g. sauces, syrups, soups etc.). If you are importing any of those products, you may want to consult with an Import Specialist at your local port of entry. You should also reference three publications "Importing Into the United States", "Marking of Country of Origin", and "The Harmonized Tariff Schedule". You can obtain the harmonized codes and duty rates for coffee, tea and many spices in chapter 9. Other spices can be obtained in chapter 12. Instant coffee and products containing coffee are in chapter 21. Countries that have normal trade relations status with the United States are eligible for the duty rates in COLUMN One, unless there is an international trade agreement that provides for duty-free entry of your goods if they are from a country covered by such an agreement. (i.e. GSP, NAFTA, etc. Special rates of duty are indicated in the column to the right of column one, and are indicated by various codes. For instance, GSP eligibility is indicated by "A." For more information on such agreements, please see our International Agreements section. Duty is assessed on the price paid for the goods, which does not include freight and insurance charges. If you need assistance determining the appropriate harmonized codes or duty rates an Import Specialist can assist you with that as well.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
http://www.fda.gov
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