Congress transferred inspection authority for catfish to USDA FSIS, so imported farmed catfish must come from FSIS-approved foreign establishments and undergo port-of-entry reinspection—the same framework applied to meat and poultry. All other farmed fish remain under FDA's seafood HACCP program.

When FDA places a foreign producer or country on an import alert for farmed fish—typically due to drug residue or pathogen findings—shipments from that source are subject to detention without physical examination, meaning they are held at the port until the importer provides evidence of compliance. Resolving an import alert can require independent laboratory testing and may take weeks, so monitoring FDA's alert database before contracting is advisable.