Food Customs Broker
Food Customs Broker for U.S. Import Clearance
Licensed CBP and FDA clearance for food, beverage and agricultural shipments entering the United States. Whether you are the producer abroad trying to reach this market or the U.S. company bringing the product in, the requirements are the same — and almost all of them have to be handled before the cargo moves.
25 years clearing U.S. entries
Licensed CHB with National Permit
All U.S. ports — not just Miami
English · Spanish · Portuguese
TSA certified
Owner-led — nearly 40 years in trade
Food doesn’t wait for paperwork
Every food shipment crossing into the United States carries more than cargo — it carries regulations, timing and risk. A held shipment is rarely bad luck. It is almost always a documentation problem that was preventable weeks earlier, usually before the container ever left the country of origin.
Food is one of the most heavily regulated categories entering the United States. Alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FDA screens every entry line electronically and can detain a shipment that only appears to fall short of a requirement — no lab test needed. For perishable product, that pause is not an inconvenience. It is shelf life you do not get back.
Latin Gate Customs Brokers has been clearing food and FDA-regulated cargo since 2001. We are based in Miami, the busiest gateway between the United States and Latin America, and we file at ports across the country. Our work starts before your cargo moves, not after it lands.
Who we work with
PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS SELLING INTO THE U.S.
You make an excellent product and there is a U.S. market for it. Between you and that market sits a border, a stack of federal requirements and a hundred ways to lose time. We work directly with producers, packers and exporters — in your language — to get the U.S. side right before you ship the first container, and to keep it right on every one after that.
U.S. IMPORTERS AND DISTRIBUTORS
You are the importer of record, which means the legal responsibility for classification, valuation and compliance sits with you — not with your supplier. We help you carry it: entry filing, FDA data, FSVP, duty planning and a clean audit trail from the first shipment forward.
FREIGHT FORWARDERS AND TRADING COMPANIES
You move the cargo or broker the deal. We clear it. A licensed, bilingual customs broker with food experience and multi-port coverage makes your service faster and your clients calmer.
Exporting your food to the United States
What a producer or exporter outside the United States needs in place before the first shipment — and what we handle on your behalf.
FDA food facility registration and renewal
Your plant generally has to be registered with the FDA before its product can enter the United States. We file the registration, keep the biennial renewal window on your calendar, and make sure the unique facility identifier is correct and current.
U.S. Agent representation
Every foreign facility has to designate a U.S. Agent: a real point of contact inside the United States that the FDA can reach about your registration and your shipments. We act as that agent for our clients, and we answer when they call.
Label review before you print
A review of your artwork against U.S. requirements before you commit to a print run. This is the cheapest fix in the entire process, and it is the one most exporters skip until a container is already sitting at the port.
Admissibility and agency check
Which federal agencies your product actually triggers — FDA, USDA, APHIS, TTB — and what each one wants. Better to know before you quote your buyer than after you have signed the order.
HTS classification and landed cost
What your buyer will really pay in duty once the product lands. It changes your price, your margin, and sometimes your decision about whether this market is worth entering at all.
Coordination with your U.S. buyer
Prior Notice, FSVP and the entry all have to line up on the U.S. side. We coordinate directly with your buyer’s team so nothing falls between the two companies — and if your buyer has no broker, we can be theirs as well.
Have a food shipment coming up?
The best time to talk to a customs broker is before you book, not after there is a problem. Tell us what the product is, who is on the other side of the transaction and when you need it there, and we will tell you exactly what your shipment requires.
Importing food into the United States
End-to-end customs clearance for food, beverage and agricultural products entering the U.S. market.
Customs entry and clearance
Entry filing at all U.S. ports of entry — ocean, air, truck and rail. Continuous and single-transaction bonds, ISF filing, and coordination with your carrier and terminal so the entry is ready when the cargo lands.
FDA Prior Notice filing
Advance electronic notice to the FDA, filed accurately and inside the required window for your mode of transport. We file through ACE, which gives a longer advance-filing window than the FDA’s own portal.
FSVP support
Guidance on your Foreign Supplier Verification Program obligations, the records the FDA expects you to have on hand, and correct transmission of the FSVP importer’s identifying data at the time of entry.
Tariff classification and duty
HTS classification, valuation, duty planning, free trade agreement qualification, and duty drawback where recovery is available.
Supplier-side coordination
Most entry problems start at origin. We talk to your supplier directly, in Spanish or Portuguese, and fix the documentation there — instead of arguing about it while the container sits on the pier.
Exams, holds and detentions
When CBP or the FDA stops a shipment, we handle the response: the messaging, the records, the reconditioning or re-export decision, and the paperwork that closes it out.