Food Imports by Mail After De Minimis: What CBP’s Entry Type 13 Means for FDA and USDA Compliance

For years, the international mail channel was the path of least resistance for low-value food imports — specialty and ethnic groceries, dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, gourmet samples, and direct-to-consumer orders that slipped in under the $800 duty-free de minimis threshold with minimal data and no duty at the door. That path is now closed. It has been replaced by Entry Type 13 — a narrower, PGA-capable filing.

If your business moves FDA- or USDA-regulated product through the mail, Type 13 is the entry type you need to understand, because it is effectively the only informal pathway CBP has built that can carry the food-specific data your shipments require.

The End of De Minimis

Following Executive Orders 14324 and 14388, CBP indefinitely suspended the duty-free de minimis administrative exemption for mail. The Executive Orders were implemented in interim final rules published June 24, 2026. The new postal informal entry process took effect July 24, 2026, and the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act repeals de minimis outright on July 1, 2027. The short version: low-value mail shipments now require a real entry, a classification, a declared value, a bond, and payment of applicable duties.

Importers should note that de minimis was always a duty and entry exemption — never an exemption from FDA or USDA regulatory requirements. Imported food has always been subject to FDA admissibility rules, Prior Notice, and USDA controls regardless of value. The end of de minimis doesn’t create new food-safety obligations so much as it forces the data that was always legally required to finally be filed at entry.

Why the Standard Postal Process Doesn’t Work for Food

CBP’s new interim postal informal entry process, codified at 19 CFR part 145, is built for simple, duty-only mail: shipments valued at $2,500 or less, classifiable in HTSUS Chapters 1–97, with duties reported on a monthly data set and paid through Pay.gov.

Crucially, that interim process excludes any shipment subject to PGA data requirements. That exclusion sweeps in essentially the entire food sector — anything regulated by the FDA or USDA. Left there, a low-value food shipment arriving by mail would be forced into the full formal entry process. CBP recognized this problem and set a delayed compliance date of October 22, 2026 for PGA-flagged shipments, but a delayed deadline is not a solution.

Entry Type 13 is the solution CBP built.

What Entry Type 13 Is

Announced alongside the interim rules and launching as a voluntary test on September 22, 2026, Entry Type 13 (Informal Mail Entry) is a new electronic informal entry type filed in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). It is available for international mail shipments valued at $2,500 or less — and, critically for food, it temporarily creates an informal entry pathway for low-value mail shipments subject to PGA data requirements, precisely the shipments the interim postal process cannot accommodate.

Key aspects of Entry Type 13:

• Eligibility: International mail valued at $2,500 or less, including product that formerly entered de minimis.
• Who can file: A person with the right to make entry as the importer of record (i.e. a financial interest in the transaction) or a licensed customs broker appointed by such person.
• Bond required: A single transaction or continuous customs bond.
• PGA data: Shipments subject to PGA requirements must transmit the additional data those agencies mandate, on top of the standard entry data (filer and IOR codes, description, country of origin, 10-digit HTSUS classification, value, duty, carrier, foreign postal tracking number, and arrival port).

Full FDA Data Required for Filing

For FDA-regulated food, the PGA message set transmitted with a Type 13 entry is where compliance lives or dies. Depending on the product, filers should expect to provide:

• Prior Notice. FDA Prior Notice under the Bioterrorism Act / FSMA remains mandatory for imported food and must be submitted before arrival. Low-value senders who ignored it in the de minimis era no longer have cover.
• FDA product code and intended use code identifying exactly what the article is and how it will be used.
• Foreign facility registration. The manufacturer/shipper must be a registered FDA food facility.
• FSVP importer identification. For most human and animal food, the entry must identify the Foreign Supplier Verification Program importer by name and unique facility identifier (DUNS), and that importer must have an FSVP in place.
• Affirmations of compliance as applicable — for example, FCE/SID numbers for low-acid canned and acidified foods, and other product-specific attestations.

None of this is new law. What is new is that this information now has to be filed, accurately, on shipments that previously moved on a manifest line.

USDA Data is Also Required

Full FSIS, APHIS and AMS information is required for USDA-regulated products:

• FSIS (meat, poultry, and egg products). These products are eligible only from certified countries and establishments and are subject to import reinspection.
• APHIS (plant and animal products). Foods with animal materials such as dairy or meat, fresh produce and other plant products may require import permits, phytosanitary certificates and other documentation. The relevant APHIS data must accompany the entry, and the underlying permit or certificate must be provided.
• AMS (marketing orders and organic). Certain fruits, vegetables, and nuts are subject to grade, size, and quality requirements under marketing orders, and organic claims implicate the National Organic Program which requires electronic certificates.

Shipments Ineligible for Type 13

Shipments subject to antidumping or countervailing duties — think categories like honey, fresh garlic, preserved mushrooms, and shrimp from certain countries— remain ineligible for informal entry and must go formal. The same is true for shipments subject to quotas, including the tariff-rate quotas that govern sugar and many dairy products. And CBP retains authority to require formal entry of any mail shipment, regardless of value, to protect the revenue.

Key Dates for the Transition from De Minimis

• June 24, 2026 — De minimis suspension for mail takes effect
• July 24, 2026 — Interim postal informal entry process effective
• September 22, 2026 — Entry Type 13 electronic test opens in ACE
• October 22, 2026 — Delayed compliance date for PGA-flagged mail shipments
• July 1, 2027 — Statutory repeal of de minimis

What Food Businesses Should Do Now

1. Assume every food mail shipment now needs a full PGA-data entry. Build Prior Notice, FDA product codes, and FSVP identification into your inbound process — including for the low-value orders that used to move on autopilot.
2. Line up a broker with PGA filing capability. Owners and purchasers can self-file, but most food importers will want a broker experienced with FDA and USDA message sets acting as IOR.
3. Secure the required bond before you need it.
4. Screen your product against USDA admissibility and AD/CVD/quota exposure. Determine which SKUs can move informally under Type 13, which require formal entry, and which shouldn’t move by mail at all.
5. Consider joining the Type 13 test. Early participation lets you adapt systems before the process becomes mandatory — and lets you weigh in with CBP while the rules are still being shaped.

How We Can Help

The end of de minimis has quietly rewired the compliance economics of low-value food imports, and Entry Type 13 sits at the center of that change for anyone using the mail channel. Getting Prior Notice, FSVP identification, product coding, USDA admissibility, and AD/CVD screening right — and understanding which shipments qualify for Type 13 versus formal entry — is now a front-line compliance issue, not a back-office detail.

Our firm advises food importers on FDA and USDA import requirements, tariff classification, entry strategy, and trade-remedy exposure. If your business brings FDA- or USDA-regulated product into the United States through the mail, we can help you build an Entry Type 13-ready compliance process before the deadlines arrive.

This post is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance on your specific circumstances, please contact our office.