Export document
FSVP
The Foreign Supplier Verification Program requires the US importer of food to verify that their foreign supplier produces it to American standards. It belongs to you rather than to the Indonesian producer, it has to exist before the food arrives, and inspectors ask to see it.
The essentials.
- The obligation is the importer's
- Whoever owns the food at entry, or has agreed in writing to be the FSVP importer, carries it. No Indonesian certificate discharges it.1
- You have to be identified at entry
- The FSVP importer is named on the customs entry with an identifying number. An entry without one is a problem before the food is even examined.1
- Hazard analysis, then verification
- Identify the hazards in the food, evaluate the supplier, and carry out verification appropriate to the risk, which can mean audits, testing or records review.1
- It is written down and it is inspected
- FDA inspects importers' programmes, not only plants. Records have to be available and in English on request.1
Who asks for it.
Only these markets require it. Shipping the same goods anywhere else, the question does not arise.
What it does not cover.
Your supplier's certificates are not your programme
A HACCP plan, a health certificate and a laboratory report from the producer are inputs to your verification. They are not the verification, and presenting them as though they were is the most common failure at inspection.
It is not the same as prior notice
Prior notice tells FDA a shipment is coming. FSVP is a standing programme about the supplier. Both apply and they answer completely different questions.
Not every food is covered the same way
There are modified requirements and exemptions depending on the food and the parties. Establish where your product sits before your first order rather than after a hold.
Questions buyers ask.
Can my Indonesian supplier do this for me?
No. It is a United States obligation on a United States importer, and it examines how you verified them. A cooperative supplier makes it far easier by giving you records and access, and they cannot hold the programme on your behalf.
What happens if I do not have one?
Shipments can be refused and the importer can face enforcement. FDA inspects FSVP records at importers' offices, which surprises buyers who assumed food rules only applied at the border.
When should I start?
Before the first order, because the programme has to be in place when the food arrives. Building it while a container is at sea is the situation to avoid, and it is entirely avoidable.
Where this comes up.
Indonesian coffee
Arabica and robusta origins, wet-hulling, how the national standard grades a lot, packing, and the documents a buyer needs including EUDR.
Indonesian cocoa beans
Why fermentation decides the price, what the national grade does not cover, and the documents an Indonesian cocoa shipment needs including EUDR.
Indonesian pepper
Two named Indonesian origins, and the FAQ against ASTA distinction that decides what actually arrives in the bag. What a pepper contract has to name.
Indonesian vannamei shrimp
How farmed vannamei is counted, processed and shipped, and why the paperwork differs from wild-caught seafood: no catch certificate, but residues.
Indonesian virgin coconut oil
Three products get sold as coconut oil and only one is virgin. What the APCC standard defines, and how to tell them apart before you pay.
Export documents, by category
Four categories, four different sets of paperwork and almost no overlap. Built from the reference pages, so it cannot fall behind what is published.
How to import from Indonesia
Six steps, and the order of them matters more than the detail. What goes wrong at each, and where to read the detail on products, documents and destinations.
Sources
- 1Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for importers of food. US Food and Drug Administration. Checked 5 August 2026.
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