The biennial renewal window for FDA food facility registration opens at 12:01 AM on 1 October 2026 and closes at 11:59 PM on 31 December 2026. If your facility manufactures, processes, packs or holds food for consumption in the United States, this applies to you — and unlike most compliance deadlines, there is no grace period on the far side of it.
Why this year
Food facility registrations renew in even-numbered years. 2026 is one. Facilities that registered for the first time earlier this year still have to renew during this window — a first registration in, say, March 2026 does not carry you through to 2028.
What happens if you miss it
FDA is unambiguous about the consequence: if a registration is not renewed by 11:59 PM on 31 December of the even-numbered year, the registration is considered expired and will be removed from your account.
An expired registration is not a paperwork problem. It is the document U.S. Customs and Border Protection checks when your product arrives at a port. Shipments arriving against a lapsed registration are subject to refusal, and the practical cost is rarely the FDA side of it — it is demurrage, port storage, and a customer waiting on stock that is sitting on a dock.
Re-registering after expiry is possible, but it issues a new registration number. Anyone holding your old number — customers, customs brokers, importers of record — is then holding a number that no longer resolves.
Check your DUNS number first
Every food facility registration must include a unique facility identifier (UFI) that FDA recognises. FDA currently recognises the DUNS number for this purpose.
This is the single most common reason a renewal stalls. The DUNS record has to match the facility’s name and physical address exactly as they appear in the registration. A DUNS number issued against a head-office address, or against a slightly different legal entity name, will not validate against a facility registration for a different site. Sorting that out with Dun & Bradstreet takes days, not minutes — which is why it is worth checking in September rather than discovering it in the last week of December.
Foreign facilities: confirm your U.S. Agent before you file
A foreign facility’s registration is not complete without a designated U.S. Agent, and the renewal requires that the agent’s details are current and that the agent has confirmed the designation. If you have changed agents since 2024, or if the contact at your agent has left, resolve it before you start the submission rather than midway through.
What to do this month
- Confirm your DUNS number is active and matches the facility’s registered name and address
- Confirm your U.S. Agent designation is current and your agent is reachable
- Check who at your company holds the FDA Industry Systems account credentials — lost logins are the second most common cause of a late renewal
- Review what has changed since 2024: product categories, ownership, plant address, emergency contact
There is no fee
Food facility registration and renewal carry no FDA user fee. If you are quoted a “government fee” for a food facility renewal, it is not an FDA charge.
LMG has handled FDA food facility registration and renewal since 2009. If you would like us to manage your 2026 renewal, see FDA Food Facility Registration Renewal or contact our regulatory team.
Related: FDA Food Facility Registration · UFI and DUNS Requirements · U.S. FDA Agent Service
Source: FDA, Food Facility Registration User Guide: Biennial Registration Renewal, fda.gov.