Sea Cucumbers (NESOI, Excluding Flours, Meals & Pellets)

Bêche-de-mer is the trade name for dried, processed sea cucumber widely used in East Asian cuisine and traditional medicine. Dried sea cucumbers that are fit for human consumption and not in flour, meal, or pellet form are classified under this heading. The term appears frequently in commercial invoices and shipping documents for product sourced from Australia, Japan, and Pacific island nations.

Commercial invoices and packing lists should explicitly state the preservation method (e.g., sun-dried, boiled and dried, salted) and confirm the product is fit for human consumption. If the product is frozen, it belongs in 030812; if live or fresh, in 030811. Ambiguous descriptions — such as 'processed sea cucumber' without specifying the preservation state — are a common trigger for CBP requests for additional information.