Nearly 70% of Non-Compliant Items Come from Seafood and Meat! Interpreting the August 2026 Notification on Imported Food Refused Entry

Foodmate Network, September 2026 — The General Administration of Customs reported that in August 2026, customs authorities nationwide detected 755 batches of food that failed quality and safety items and were refused entry during supervision at the port-of-entry stage. The refused food came from 42 countries or regions and involved 22 product categories, mainly aquatic products and their products, meat and meat products, sugar confectionery and chocolate, cocoa and its products, etc. The main non-compliance items were illegal use of sodium metabisulfite, animal diseases, and non-standard labeling. Compared with 487 batches refused entry last month, this is an increase of 268 batches. The following analyzes the categories, causes of non-compliance, origins and ports of entry of non-compliant imported food.

Data analysis shows that the problems are mainly concentrated in the following aspects:

Main risk categories: aquatic products and their products (especially frozen southern white shrimp) and meat and meat products (especially chicken feet and chicken claws) are the hardest-hit areas, together accounting for nearly 70% of the total non-compliant batches.

Main reasons for non-compliance: excessive food additives (represented by sodium metabisulfite), failure to obtain market access, animal diseases, inconsistency between goods and certificates, non-compliant labeling, veterinary drug residues (nitrofurazone metabolites), and contaminants (cadmium).

Main sources: the non-compliant food mainly came from Ecuador, India, the United States, Russia, Brazil, Oman and other countries.

Main ports of entry: Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhanjiang, Xiamen and Ningbo were the top five ports that intercepted the most non-compliant products.

I. Statistics on imported products and analysis of the share of non-compliant categories

From the perspective of major product categories, the problems are highly concentrated, and the following high-risk categories require close attention:

Rank

Product category

Non-compliant batches

Share

Main issues

1

Aquatic products and their products

409

54.17%

Illegal use of sodium metabisulfite, animal diseases, failure to obtain market access

2

Meat and meat products

149

19.74%

Inconsistency between goods and certificates, nitrofurazone residue exceedances, non-standard labeling

3

Sugar confectionery and chocolate

31

4.11%

Non-standard labeling (19 items), use of unapproved novel food ingredients (12 items)

4

Condiments

27

3.58%

Production enterprise registration issues (22 items), non-compliant certificates (5 items)

5

Fruits and their products

24

3.18%

Use of unapproved novel food ingredients, non-compliant certificates

6

Alcoholic beverages

22

2.91%

Illegal use of DL-malic acid, failure to obtain market access

7

Cereals and their products

21

2.78%

Genetically modified components detected, inconsistency between goods and certificates, production enterprise registration issues

8

Beverages

14

1.85%

Non-standard labeling, production enterprise registration issues, non-compliant packaging requirements

9

Potato and puffed foods

14

1.85%

Non-compliant acid value, non-standard labeling, excessive lead

10

Oils and fats and their products

13

1.72%

Genetically modified components detected, benzo[a]pyrene exceedances

II. Analysis of the main causes of non-compliance risk

Among the 755 batches of non-compliant food, multiple risks overlapped — food additive issues, failure to obtain market access, animal diseases, inconsistency between goods and certificates, non-compliant labeling, veterinary drug residues and excessive contaminants — and importing enterprises need to check supply chain loopholes item by item against these.

(1) Food additive issues rank first, with sodium metabisulfite exceedances concentrated in frozen southern white shrimp

Food additive-related issues totaled about 248 batches, accounting for about 32.8%, ranking first among the causes of non-compliance. Of these, sodium metabisulfite exceedances alone reached 219 batches, with the risk highly concentrated in frozen southern white shrimp from Ecuador, which were intercepted in large numbers at multiple ports including Tianjin, Zhanjiang, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Shenzhen. Such non-compliance mostly stems from overseas processing plants' insufficient grasp of China's GB 2760 limits for additives in aquatic products: to alleviate blackening of the shrimp body and microbial growth during long ocean voyages, they add preservatives based on experience and lack quantitative control measures; some plants increase dosages to reduce losses, while not including this indicator in mandatory factory testing, resulting in large batch-to-batch residue fluctuations.

(2) Failure to obtain market access combined with animal diseases: Indian Sciaenidae aquatic products hit across the board

67 batches of products failed to obtain market access, of which frozen yellow croaker (Nibea albiflora) from India alone accounted for 52 batches, plus frozen white croaker, Dussumier's croaker and other Sciaenidae species, reflecting that such Indian aquatic products have not yet obtained qualification for access to China. 91 batches tested positive for animal diseases, of which 89 batches were frozen southern white shrimp (mostly from Ecuador), and 38 of these occurred simultaneously with sodium metabisulfite exceedances, forming a double violation of 'disease — preservative abuse'. Access-related non-compliance stems from the absence of prior compliance review on the trade side: buyers did not continuously track updates to the customs list of aquatic products approved for export to China, and organized supply and shipment when the relevant fish species, overseas fishing operations and processing plants had not yet completed registration for China. Disease problems stem from insufficient biosafety control in overseas aquaculture: seedlings and the farming environment carry pathogen contamination, and some plants rely on excessive preservatives to conceal raw material quality hazards, which in turn leads to simultaneous detection of disease positives and additive exceedances.

(3) Inconsistency between goods and certificates and overseas enterprise registration issues: documentation remains a high-frequency minefield

63 batches involved inconsistency between goods and certificates, occurring frequently in meat and meat products, aquatic products and their products, and cereals and their products. 30 batches involved registration issues of overseas food production enterprises, covering Italian premix powder, Indian curry powder, Indian seasoning powder and other imported food categories. The main causes remain inconsistency between the registered entity and the actual producer, mismatch between the registered category and the actual exported product, and failure to renew enterprise registration upon expiry. Such problems are generally attributed to the lack of a supply chain information synchronization mechanism: importers do not routinely verify overseas plant registration information, suppliers do not proactively inform after changing production lines or contract manufacturers, and certificate, declaration and physical information are not updated in sync.

(4) Non-compliant labeling is a long-standing problem, with 89 batches crossing the line

89 batches had non-compliant labels, accounting for 11.8%, mainly in meat and meat products, sugar confectionery and chocolate, alcoholic beverages, coffee beverages and other categories. Common problems include failure to affix Chinese labels, non-standard indication of production date/shelf life, non-conforming format or data in nutrition facts panels, ingredient lists inconsistent with actual contents, and failure to label genetically modified components. Non-compliant labeling usually arises because overseas manufacturers continue to use label templates from their home markets without adjusting content to China's labeling rules for imported prepackaged food, and translation and nutrition information are prone to deviation; importers generally lack upfront label review and have loose label version control, discovering non-compliance only when goods arrive at the port for inspection.

(5) Veterinary drug residue risk: nitrofurazone exceedances in US chicken feet recur

42 batches involved veterinary drug residue issues, of which 34 batches had nitrofurazone metabolite exceedances, 31 batches from the United States (frozen cooked chicken feet, frozen cooked chicken claws, frozen cooked chicken feet), with the rest from New Zealand and Spain. In addition, 5 batches of imidocarb were detected in frozen boneless beef from Argentina and Uruguay. Veterinary drug metabolite exceedances are often due to some overseas farms illegally using drugs banned in China, inadequate implementation of withdrawal period controls, and mixing raw materials from different sources during processing; overseas factory testing items are set according to domestic regulations and do not cover the veterinary drug metabolites under key control in China, and such metabolites are highly stable and cannot be eliminated by subsequent cooking.

(6) Contaminant and GMO risks: cadmium exceedances prominent in Omani crabs

Contaminant exceedances totaled 33 batches, of which 28 were cadmium exceedances — 26 concentrated in frozen swimming crabs and frozen flower crabs from Oman, plus 2 batches of frozen halibut heads (Greenland halibut heads) from Greenland. A total of 19 batches tested positive for genetically modified components: 8 batches of unapproved GM components in Russian non-GMO rapeseed crude oil, 6 batches in Japanese wheat flour, and 5 batches in Indian broken white rice; such risks likewise cannot be ignored. Contaminant exceedances mainly stem from high environmental background cadmium levels in the relevant fishing grounds and significant bioaccumulation in crustaceans, with suppliers failing to add heavy metal screening for raw materials from high-risk waters; GM detections, besides cross-contamination of raw materials due to inadequate isolation during cultivation, storage and transport, also reflect lax upstream raw material sorting and acceptance control that failed to effectively identify mixed-in GM components.

III. Compliance recommendations for importing enterprises

Food safety is the foundation of import trade, and compliance control is a necessary condition for stable business operations. Based on the August port non-compliance data, the following practical recommendations are offered:

1. Strengthen source control for high-risk categories

For high-risk 'origin-product' combinations such as Ecuadorian frozen southern white shrimp, Indian frozen yellow croaker, US chicken feet, Omani swimming crabs and Russian rapeseed crude oil, the level of source control should be raised. Before shipment, require suppliers to provide third-party test reports for key items such as sulfites, nitrofurazone, cadmium, GMOs and diseases; at the same time verify that the products have obtained access to China and that overseas production enterprises have completed registration in China.

1. Complete import food label review in advance

Enterprises are advised to complete a full review of Chinese labels before import, focusing on the format for indicating production date and shelf life, nutrition facts panels, ingredient lists, GMO labeling, and the scope of use of novel food ingredients. The new versions of GB 7718 and GB 28050 will officially take effect on March 16, 2027, and enterprises should study the key points of the standard revisions in advance and complete label iteration.

1. Joint review of documents and goods information

Enterprises can establish a joint review mechanism linking documents and goods information: before shipment, check documents such as overseas production enterprise registration qualifications, health certificates and certificates of origin to ensure that product names, batches, specifications and production information match; continuously monitor the validity period of overseas enterprise registration and access status, and follow up and update promptly when qualifications are nearing expiry, so as to eliminate expired documents, information mismatches and certificate items that do not meet China's import requirements.

Conclusion

The August 2026 notification of 755 batches of food refused entry reflects that additive abuse in frozen southern white shrimp, lack of access for Indian Sciaenidae aquatic products, veterinary drug residues in US chicken feet, and cadmium exceedances in Omani crabs became the typical imported food safety risks of the month. Against the backdrop of continuously improving customs inspection and quarantine capacity at ports, any wishful thinking could result in the entire shipment being returned or destroyed. Only by embedding compliance management into every link of the supply chain — from source control and process management to end-point compliance — can enterprises navigate the tides of international trade steadily and far.

Data note: This article is based on the non-compliant imported food data published by the General Administration of Customs for August 2026, analyzed with the sampling inspection query and analysis system independently developed by Foodmate Network, and is for reference only. Enterprises should rely on the latest official data and continuously monitor early-warning developments.

For further data analysis or compliance consulting, please contact Foodmate Network.