The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced in the July 3, 2017 Federal Register that, starting August 2, 2017, all shipments of imported Siluriformes fish and fish products (including catfish) entering the U.S. must be presented at an Official Import Inspection Establishment for re-inspection by FSIS personnel.

The 2008 and 2014 Farm Bills require FDA to divest its authority over the inspection of Siluriformes fish to FSIS, and on November 25, 2015, FSIS announced a final rule to establish an inspection program for both domestically-raised and imported Siluriformes fish. (That rule became effective on December 2, 2015, when it was published in the Federal Register.) On May 2, 2016, FDA announced the completion of the transfer of the domestic and import inspection program for Siluriformes fish and fish products to FSIS.

Not everyone agrees with transferring catfish inspection responsibilities to FSIS. On May 25, 2016, the U.S. Senate passed a joint resolution, J.Res.28, which stated, “Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Secretary of Agriculture relating to Mandatory Inspection of Fish of the Order Siluriformes and Products Derived From Such Fish” (80 Fed. Reg. 75590; December 2, 2015), and such rule shall have no force or effect. However, the House did not vote on the measure before the end of the 2015/2016 session.

Catfish inspection has been under the jurisdiction of USDA since April 2016, while FDA continues to be responsible for the safety of all other seafood. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is currently reviewing “the coordination between USDA and FDA, including the extent to which these agencies are leveraging each other’s resources to more effectively conduct their imported seafood oversight programs.” GAO had recommended in 2012 that Congress repeal provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill assigning FSIS responsibility for inspecting catfish. In a report on catfish inspection (last updated on March 1, 2017), GAO cautioned that “facilities that process both catfish and other seafood may potentially still be inspected by both FSIS and FDA.”