In a pistachio import file, the lab’s accreditation can matter as much as the number on the test report. For handlers bringing product into the United States, that distinction becomes part of the release process when a shipment is detained over toxic elements.
The requirement is limited to importers seeking admission for food detained under Section 801(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; it is not a blanket testing rule for California-grown pistachios. The detention provision is the trigger.
The Lab Becomes Part of the Release File
For tests submitted to support admission of an affected shipment, the laboratory must be accredited through FDA’s Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods program, as required by 21 CFR 1.1107.
The specified elements are arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. The rule makes the laboratory’s standing relevant to the evidence used for release; a test result alone may not be enough if the testing lab does not meet the accreditation requirement.
A Border Issue, Not an Orchard Sampling Mandate
That boundary matters in California, where pistachio operations may be involved at different points in the supply chain. A grower selling domestic crop is in a different position from a handler or processor importing product and trying to clear a detained lot.
For import buyers, the practical work is coordination: confirm the lot’s status and reason for detention, then establish who will arrange qualifying analysis and assemble the release documentation. The rule does not by itself establish that any particular pistachio shipment is detained.