United States v. Food, 2,998 Cases, Etc., First Phoenix Group, Ltd., Claimant-Appellee

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents complex, difficult, and close questions. It is, however, a case that is unlikely to arouse widespread passion.

The case begins with an import alert for mushrooms canned in China and falsely bearing the labels of certain Taiwanese manufacturers. Based on the alert, the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) detained two shipments of mushrooms owned by ap-pellee First Phoenix Group Limited, Inc. (“First Phoenix”). The question that drives this appeal is what is to be done with these mushrooms now that they have been detained by the Customs…