Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP): FDA Warning Letter to AAL Trading Inc., 2026-07-15
Letter issued · posted to fda.gov .
Subject as published: Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP)
TL;DR
At a glance: The FDA issued a warning letter to AAL Trading Inc. (Linden, NJ) on July 15, 2026, following an FSVP inspection conducted May 18–27, 2026, citing failure to develop, maintain, and follow a Foreign Supplier Verification Program for imported foods including enoki mushrooms and maitake mushrooms from multiple suppliers. The company must respond within 15 working days with corrective actions and supporting documentation, or face refusal of admission and detention without physical examination for imported foods under 21 CFR part 1, subpart L and section 805 of the FD&C Act.
Argus analysis
# FDA Warning Letter Analysis: AAL Trading Inc.
**Company and Findings**
AAL Trading Inc., a food importer based in Linden, New Jersey, received a warning letter from the FDA's Office of Inspections and Investigations on July 15, 2026, following an inspection conducted May 18–27, 2026. The FDA determined that the company failed to establish and maintain a Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) for imported foods, specifically enoki and maitake mushrooms sourced from multiple suppliers. The company's response to initial inspection observations proved insufficient, containing only promises to provide English-language records rather than actual documentation of corrective measures.
**Regulatory Citations and Implications**
The violations center on 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart L (FSVP regulation) and Section 805 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. These requirements mandate that food importers develop and maintain written programs demonstrating that suppliers meet U.S. food safety standards. For covered produce—fresh mushrooms fall within this category—importers must verify compliance with 21 CFR Part 112 (produce safety standards). Failure to maintain these programs in accessible form, as required by 21 CFR 1.502(a), constitutes a significant violation. The FDA emphasized this is not an exhaustive list of deficiencies found.
**Response Timeline and Industry Monitoring**
AAL Trading has 15 working days from letter receipt to submit written corrective actions with supporting documentation. The FDA signaled potential enforcement escalation, including detention without physical examination (DWPE) orders under Import Alert #99-41 or refusal of admission under Section 801(a)(3). Compliance officers in produce and mushroom importing should monitor whether AAL provides substantive FSVP documentation and whether the FDA issues DWPE notices. Similar importers should review their own supplier verification records, particularly documentation language and location compliance.
Severity context
Low severity. Procedural or narrow scope; most peer companies resolve in the 15-business-day response window without structural change.
Regulatory background
FDA Warning Letters are administratively non-binding but signal that recurring non-compliance may escalate to injunction, seizure, import alert, or Application Integrity Policy invocation.
What peer compliance teams typically do next
Most compliance officers at peer companies use a Warning Letter against a named entity as a checklist for their own CAPA program. Common steps: pull the verbatim FDA letter; map each cited 21 CFR section against the team’s SOP library; confirm CAPA coverage; brief the QMR (Quality Management Review) on whether the cited subject matter is in scope for the next internal audit. The 15-business-day response window applies to the cited entity, not to peers — but a documented internal review against the cited subjects is what regulators expect to see if a peer is later inspected on the same topic.
Excerpt from the FDA Warning Letter (public domain, 17 USC §105)
WARNING LETTER AAL Trading Inc. MARCS-CMS 732493 — July 15, 2026 More Warning Letters Warning Letters About Warning and Close-Out Letters Delivery Method: Via Email Product: Food & Beverages Recipient: Recipient Name Kaiguang Liu Recipient Title President AAL Trading Inc. 502 West Elm Street Linden , NJ 07036 United States ALKTRADING@(b)(6), (b)(7)(C) Issuing Office: Office of Inspections and Investigations United States WARNING LETTER RE: CMS# 732493 Dear Mr. Kaiguang Liu: On May 18 through May 27, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) inspection of AAL TRADING INC., located at 502 West Elm Street, Linden, NJ 07036. This inspection was conducted to determine compliance with the requirements of section 805 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 384a) and the implementing FSVP regulation in 21 CFR part 1, subpart L. The FSVP regulation requires that importers perform certain risk-based activities to verify that human and/or animal food they import into the United States has been produced in a manner that meets applicable U.S. food safety standards. You may find information relating to the FSVP regulation and your responsibilities to comply with the regulation through links in FDA’s FSVP web page at https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-modernization-act-fsma/fsma-final-rule-foreign-supplier-verification-programs-fsvp-importers-food-humans-and-animals. During the inspection, we found that you are not in compliance with the requirements of 21 CFR part 1, subpart L for the foods you import. Because of these significant violations, you are not in compliance with section 805 of the FD&C Act. At the conclusion of the inspection, our investigator provided you with a Form FDA 483a FSVP Observations. We acknowledge receipt of your response, dated June 5, 2026, in which you stated that your FSVP records are not maintained in English, but could be provided in English within 2–3 weeks upon request, and are maintained at another location. You also provided contact information, including a phone number with office hours and an address where the FSVP records are said to be maintained. We are unable to evaluate the adequacy of your response because you have not provided any supporting documentation demonstrating your corrective actions. To date, no additional FSVP documents have been received by FDA. Your significant violations of the FSVP regulation are as follows: You did not develop, maintain, and follow an FSVP as required by section 805 of the FD&C Act and 21 CFR 1.502(a). Specifically, you did not develop an FSVP for any of the foods you import, including each of the following foods: Enoki mushroom imported from (b)(4) , located in (b)(4) . Enoki mushroom and Maitake Mushroom imported from (b)(4) , located in (b)(4) . Enoki mushroom imported from (b)(4) , located in (b)(4) . You import fresh produce that may be considered “covered produce” as defined in 21 CFR 112.3. I…
Excerpt only. The full verbatim Warning Letter is the source of truth — always read the original before regulatory decisions.
The verbatim FDA Warning Letter is the source of truth. Always read the original before acting on any analysis or summary on this page.
Read the full letter on fda.gov ↗Frequently asked questions
- When did FDA issue the warning letter to AAL Trading Inc.?
- FDA issued the letter (MARCS-CMS 732493) on 2026-07-15 and posted it publicly on fda.gov on 2026-08-04.
- Is the FDA warning letter to AAL Trading Inc. publicly available?
- Yes. The full verbatim letter is published at fda.gov. Argus HQ links directly to the source: https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/aal-trading-inc-732493-07152026.
- What does a "low" severity rating mean for this letter?
- Low severity. Procedural or narrow scope; most peer companies resolve in the 15-business-day response window without structural change.
- What is the regulatory background for a Warning Letter warning letter?
- FDA Warning Letters are administratively non-binding but signal that recurring non-compliance may escalate to injunction, seizure, import alert, or Application Integrity Policy invocation.
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methodology
The analysis above is produced by Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5 against the verbatim FDA Warning Letter excerpt and is brand-voice lint-checked before publish. The TL;DR is the same summary that ships in the customer email digest. Severity is auto-classified by Argus from the subject string and letter body using rules documented in lib/ingestion/fda-warning-letters.ts.
Argus HQ is informational only. Summaries and analyses are AI-generated and may contain errors, misclassifications, or omissions. Verify against the FDA source URL above. Argus HQ is not a law firm, accounting firm, or regulatory agency, and provides no legal, accounting, financial, medical, or regulatory advice.
Compiled by Argus HQ Research from FDA primary sources · Reviewed by Andy Gaber, Founder
Cite this record
Reusing this data in reporting or research? Here’s a ready-made citation.
Argus HQ Research (2026). Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP): FDA Warning Letter to AAL Trading Inc., 2026-07-15. Digital Empire Holdings LLC. Retrieved from https://argushq.ai/fda/warning-letter/fda-wl-aal-trading-inc-2026-07-15-warning-letter
"Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP): FDA Warning Letter to AAL Trading Inc., 2026-07-15." Argus HQ Research, Digital Empire Holdings LLC, 2026, argushq.ai/fda/warning-letter/fda-wl-aal-trading-inc-2026-07-15-warning-letter.
Argus HQ Research. "Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP): FDA Warning Letter to AAL Trading Inc., 2026-07-15." Digital Empire Holdings LLC. Accessed August 5, 2026. https://argushq.ai/fda/warning-letter/fda-wl-aal-trading-inc-2026-07-15-warning-letter.
@misc{argushq_argushq_ai_fda_warning_letter_fda_wl_aal_trading_inc_2026_07_15_warning_letter_2026,
title = {Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP): FDA Warning Letter to AAL Trading Inc., 2026-07-15},
author = {{Argus HQ Research}},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Digital Empire Holdings LLC},
url = {https://argushq.ai/fda/warning-letter/fda-wl-aal-trading-inc-2026-07-15-warning-letter},
note = {Accessed: August 5, 2026}
}