Alcohol, pet food & live animals

Alcohol, briefly

We clear beverage alcohol of every kind, from a single pallet of boutique wine to a standing programme for a spirits brand. The requirements are a TTB basic permit, a Certificate of Label Approval for each product, a correct proof gallon or wine gallon calculation, and federal excise tax paid in full at entry with any reduced rate claimed back from TTB afterwards. That is a subject of its own and it has its own page: wine, spirits and TTB.

Pet food and animal feed

Animal food is food. The same FDA machinery that governs a can of soup governs a bag of kibble. The manufacturing facility has to be registered, Prior Notice has to be filed before arrival, the FSVP importer has to be named with a DUNS number FDA can resolve, and the foreign supplier has to be operating under preventive controls for animal food. Nothing about the fact that a dog will eat it makes any of that lighter.

What is different is the ingredient question. Anything containing ruminant, porcine or poultry material runs into animal health restrictions that follow the origin of the material rather than the country where the bag was filled. Depending on the ingredient and the disease status of its source country, that means an APHIS Veterinary Services import permit, a government veterinary certificate, or both. A bag packed in one country from protein slaughtered in another is a common and entirely avoidable hold: if the invoice states the wrong origin for the ingredient, the permit you hold does not cover the shipment.

One thing we do not file, and want you thinking about early: most states require pet food labels to be registered with the state feed control official before sale, following the AAFCO model. That process is slower than the ocean leg. Start it while the goods are still being made.

Live animals

A live animal shipment needs an APHIS Veterinary Services import permit applied for before the animal travels, a health certificate issued and endorsed by the veterinary authority of the exporting country, and arrival at a port equipped to handle that species. Some species and origins require quarantine at a USDA animal import centre, and that space is booked in advance, not assumed.

The permit names an importer and a port. If either changes, the permit has to be amended before arrival, not explained afterwards. The other recurring failure is scheduling: animals arrive by air on timetables that pay no attention to business hours. We check whether a veterinarian will be available at that port at that hour before the flight is booked, because an animal on a ramp waiting for Monday morning is the outcome everyone involved wants to avoid.

Dogs, specifically

Since August 2024 the CDC has applied one rule to every dog entering the United States, commercial or personal, including dogs returning from a trip abroad. The dog must be at least six months old, must have an ISO compatible microchip implanted before its rabies vaccination, must appear healthy on arrival, and must travel with the receipt from the CDC Dog Import Form submitted shortly before travel.

Dogs that have been in a country the CDC classifies as high risk for dog rabies within the previous six months need more than that: an endorsed rabies vaccination and microchip certificate, and either a valid rabies serology result from an approved laboratory or arrival by air at a port with a CDC registered animal care facility, where the dog is examined and revaccinated at the importer's cost. Dogs imported for resale or adoption sit under a separate APHIS permit regime on top of all of it.

None of this is transmitted on the customs entry, which is exactly why it gets missed. The customs side can be flawless and the dog still does not leave the airport. We ask about the travel history, the microchip and the vaccination dates before anyone buys a ticket.

Duty is rarely the issue here. Timing is.

Retail packed dog and cat food is free of duty at column one rates, and most live animals in Chapter 01 enter free or close to it. What decides the bill is whichever emergency authority or country specific programme is in force on the day of entry, and those have been amended repeatedly since 2025, so we check the Chapter 99 position per line at the time of filing rather than quoting the last shipment. What decides the schedule is the permit, and the permit has a lead time nobody can shorten once the animal or the container is moving.

What we need from you

1. A signed customs power of attorney and an adequate bond.
2. For pet food: the ingredient list with the origin of each animal derived ingredient, the manufacturer's FDA registration number, and your FSVP importer details and DUNS number.
3. For animal origin material: the APHIS Veterinary Services import permit and the endorsed veterinary certificate.
4. For live animals: species, breed, age, quantity, the intended port and the flight or vessel schedule, well ahead of departure.
5. For dogs: microchip number, rabies vaccination record, the countries the dog has been in over the last six months, and the CDC Dog Import Form receipt.
6. For alcohol: the TTB permit and the COLAs, as set out on the wine and spirits page.