The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has hit three seafood companies with warning letters, including two foreign seafood processors and one seafood importer based out of Buffalo, New York.

While the FDA published the three warning letters on Tuesday (Jan. 21), the letters were actually issued to the companies late last year for seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) violations. Per the FDA, HACCP plans are required to provide a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating and controlling food safety hazards.

One warning letter, sent to Vietnam's Duong Ha Processing Trading Seafood Company on Nov. 26, 2024, says the FDA found serious violations of the company's HACCP plan during an inspection of the processing facility in July. Per the document, the company's frozen, raw, vacuum-packaged, scombrotoxin-forming fish are adulterated "in that they have been prepared, packed, or held under conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health."

COFISA - Conservas de Peixe da Figueira, based in Portugal, also had its processing facility inspected by the FDA in July. In a letter dated Dec. 18, 2024, the FDA declared that the company's canned tuna and canned sardines are adulterated due to being prepared or packed in unsanitary conditions.

Lastly, Nyumbani Hakuna Matata, a seafood importer based in Buffalo, received a letter about non-compliance with HACCP regulations in September 2023, according to the FDA. At the time, the agency said it found dried Nile perch, dried Lake Tanganyika dagaa (sprat) and dried Migebuka (perch) were prepared, packed or held in unsanitary conditions. In a follow-up inspection on Nov. 13, 2024, the FDA inspectors documented that the company did not make the appropriate changes to address the violations.

Each company has been given 15 days to address the violations. Warning letters that go unaddressed can result in fines, product recalls and potential legal action.