According to the USDA, the U.S. imported approximately $207 billion worth of food products in 2025. This growing demand for imported products means serious financial opportunities for foreign suppliers. But if you're a supplier interested in capturing a share of this market, you'll need to become familiar with the rules and regulations of the FDA’s Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) rule.
Some exporters mistakenly believe it's up to them to meet the rigorous compliance standards of this FDA rule, making them hesitant to enter the U.S. market for fear it would require significant operational overhaul — and leaving money on the table. In reality, the responsibility of developing and maintaining the FSVP belongs to U.S. importers.
But that doesn't mean suppliers don’t play a role in FSVP, or that there aren't benefits to proactive cooperation. Foreign suppliers must implement and maintain food safety practices, documentation, and communication efforts that help their U.S. importers to verify that they meet FDA standards; supporting your partners in these compliance efforts can foster a smoother relationship and open the door to opportunities to grow your overseas business.
At its core, FSVP is a system designed to hold importers accountable for ensuring that foods imported to the U.S. are produced in accordance with applicable U.S. food safety standards. But what does FSVP alignment entail for foreign suppliers? Do you need to follow a new set of procedures that will upend your current operations? Contrary to common belief, the most likely answer is no.
If, for example, your food safety practices already operate around a robust HACCP-based or GFSI-recognized system like Safe Quality Food (SQF), you may already have many of the processes and records that an importer might request. You may only need to evaluate how your current practices align with U.S. requirements (such as more rigorous hazard analysis expectations) and your importers’ expectations.
Importers need suppliers to provide documentation that demonstrates products are manufactured, processed, or grown in accordance with the latest food safety guidelines. The documents they request will vary depending on product types and other factors, but some examples include:
Hazard analyses
Food safety plans
Preventive controls documentation
Audit reports
Corrective action records
Product specifications
Validation records
Testing results
Supplier verification records
Recall procedures
Supplying current, justified, and organized information promptly can position your operation as a prepared, transparent business partner — a differentiator that could put you ahead of competing suppliers and open doors to new partners.
With a growing U.S. reliance on imported food, entering the U.S. market can mean tapping a world of new business opportunities. Proactively aligning your procedures and documentation to meet U.S. standards can accelerate the supplier approval process and provide an invaluable benefit to your U.S. partners: peace of mind.
As you take proactive steps toward FSVP preparedness, it's also important to keep in mind that these changes won't just enable one business partnership. Because many importers operate under the same core FSVP requirements, supporting one U.S.-based partner can prepare you for conversations with others and open the door to new partnerships.
Setting yourself apart in the global food supply chain requires your team to take the initiative, educate themselves, and make the necessary adjustments to meet food safety expectations before importers review your documents.
Before you consider making any adjustments to your existing food safety practices, it's vital to understand what importers are required to evaluate to approve you as a supplier. Review FSVP essentials, how they apply to your business, and what you can do to better support your partners in one of two common ways:
Investigate these regulations on your own using FDA resources.
Invest in training with experts who can provide in-depth education on your role in FSVP.
While independent research can absolutely be beneficial, investing in training can help your team interpret complex regulatory documents and offer the tools to turn these insights into actionable next steps.
Once your team is educated on what your importers are looking for to meet FSVP requirements, you can start identifying potential gaps in your processes and food safety systems, which might include outdated procedures, a lack of supporting evidence, or incomplete records. If you want an extra set of experienced eyes, you can also bring in third-party experts to perform gap assessments on your behalf.
As you find opportunities for improvement, take the necessary corrective actions and document changes. Remember that evaluations are not a one-time process. Regularly review your food safety plan to ensure your standard operating procedures (SOPs) and food safety outcomes remain consistent with U.S. food safety requirements and your import partners’ documentation needs.
Although importers also perform hazard analyses, your U.S. business partners will expect you to have completed an FSMA-aligned hazard analysis of your own — complete with identified hazards, details on why those hazards were identified, and scientific justification for associated preventive controls. Handling these analyses proactively and comprehensively can reduce potential approval roadblocks caused by increased FDA oversight (which can be a deciding factor for importers choosing between suppliers).
As you perform your hazard analysis, you'll need to identify any known or reasonably foreseeable hazards to your food products to determine if they require a control. These include:
Biological hazards such as parasites and disease-causing bacteria
Chemical hazards like pesticides or food allergens
Physical hazards like glass or rocks
For your import partner to rely on your hazard analysis, it should include the probability that these hazards could occur without controls and the severity of any harm that would occur if they did. The results of these analyses can highlight where you may need better controls or control verification, and give your importers valuable foundational information in their supplier evaluation process.
Documentation is the key to FSVP. This is what importers will request from you to evaluate your business and satisfy FSVP regulations. As a supplier, you must be prepared to rapidly provide up-to-date documentation of your food safety practices, food safety history and performance, traceability data, and more.
Before you receive a request from your import partners to review your documentation, ensure that your facility follows proper documentation practices. This means reducing potential issues such as:
Missing or incomplete records
Outdated procedural documentation
Overly complex or unclear documentation
Disorganized or inconsistent documentation practices
As part of your internal documentation process review, you must also ensure document accuracy, currency, and completeness. Importers will rely on the information in your records to determine whether they can partner with you moving forward. This makes effective documentation essential for representing your facility’s commitment to food safety.
After evaluating and approving a supplier, importers must verify your food safety practices and hazard prevention efforts on an ongoing basis. Verification activities may include:
Onsite audits
Sampling and testing
Review of food safety records
To proactively prepare for these activities, consider conducting internal audits to identify potential shortcomings and take corrective actions. Preemptively evaluating your food safety practices before importer verification activities can help you avoid bottlenecks that slow down or hinder your business.
Position your business as a reliable, transparent supplier for importers by taking the initiative to prepare for FSVP alignment beforehand. This approach can uphold the food safety systems in place to protect consumers while supporting your business goals.
Consider bringing in an expert in FSVP to identify gaps in your procedures, review your documentation, and prepare your organization for entry into the U.S. market.