U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized counterfeit COVID-19 test kits during the inspection of express-consignment shipments. This is the latest in several shipments that have contained counterfeit test kits.
CBP officers at the Rochester Airport were conducting inspections of express-consignment shipments and selected a package for further examination. The secondary inspection of the package resulted in the discovery of 25 COVID-19 test kits that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since March, CBP officers at the Rochester Airport have discovered more than 600 COVID-19 test kits that are not approved by the FDA.
The FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to about 50 companies that are allowed to develop and distribute COVID-19 test kits. The companies that created the test kits in these shipments have not been given authorization by FDA to sell them in the United States. As a result, the kits were seized for violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
“I’m proud of the continued efforts of our CBP officers here in Rochester,” said Rochester Port Director Ronald Menz. “They work day in and day out to protect our community and prevent illicit items, like these test kits, from entering where they could cause harm or give false results.”
