FEI number: what it is, how to find yours, and what it tells you about a facility

An FEI number (FDA Establishment Identifier) is a unique number FDA assigns to a physical facility so the agency can track that facility's inspections, compliance actions and, for generic drug sites, user fee payments. FDA prints the FEI on every Form 483 and keys its inspection records to it.

This guide adds what FEI numbers look like in practice, from 35,021 FDA inspections of 25,680 facilities that ended between January 2, 2025 and October 14, 2026, and shows how to use an FEI to pull a facility's full Form 483 record in the Atlas directory (release of August 15, 2026, checked November 2026).

Key facts:

• FDA describes the FEI as a unique identifier issued to track inspections of a regulated establishment or facility, and says it is different from both a Central File Number (CFN) and a federal tax ID.
• 86.2% of the 25,680 facilities FDA inspected from January 2025 to October 2026 carry a 10-digit FEI, and 13.7% carry a 7-digit FEI.
• All 3,525 facilities with a 7-digit FEI in that data are in the United States; every foreign facility had a 10-digit FEI apart from 8 records with truncated values.
• FDA's FEI Portal, launched September 13, 2019, lets anyone with a free account look up an FEI by firm name and physical address or check the address behind a known FEI.
• Under MoCRA, FDA uses the FEI as the facility registration number for cosmetic facilities.

What is an FEI number?

An FEI number is the identifier FDA attaches to one physical facility, not to a company. FDA uses the FEI to tie each inspection, Form 483, Establishment Inspection Report and compliance action to the right building, and FDA's generic drug program also uses it to match facility fee payments. A company with ten facilities has ten FEIs.

The number appears in the "FEI NUMBER" box at the top right of every Form 483, under the inspection dates. The extract below is the June 5, 2026 Form 483 FDA issued to Pillar5 Pharma Inc. in Arnprior, Canada, FEI 3000241849.

Because the FEI follows the facility, it is the most reliable key for anyone checking a supplier, a contract manufacturer or their own inspection history. Company names change, get abbreviated or appear in capitals in one record and mixed case in another. The FEI on the inspection record stays the same. For what the rest of that header and the observations mean, see what an FDA Form 483 is.

FEI number vs EIN, DUNS and FDA registration number: what is the difference?

An FEI number identifies a facility for FDA inspections; an EIN identifies a business for US taxes; a DUNS number identifies a site in Dun & Bradstreet's database and serves as FDA's facility identifier for drug registration; and an FDA registration number confirms that a facility has registered for its product type. Only the FEI tracks inspections.

People mix the two up because device registration searches accept "registration or FEI number" in one field, and for many device and cosmetic facilities the two numbers match. Drug establishments work differently: drug registration uses the DUNS number as the facility identifier, and FDA assigns the FEI separately. FDA's generic drug fee guidance states that an FEI is different from a CFN and from a federal tax identification number, so an EIN typed into an FEI field will not match anything.

What does an FEI number look like?

An FEI number is a 7-digit or 10-digit number, and most 10-digit FEIs start with 300 or 301. In FDA inspection data for January 2, 2025 to October 14, 2026, Atlas counted 25,680 distinct FEIs: 22,147 with 10 digits (86.2%) and 3,525 with 7 digits (13.7%).

The 7-digit FEIs are older numbers, and in this data every one belongs to a US facility. Of the 3,674 foreign facilities FDA inspected in the window, across 75 countries, 3,666 had a 10-digit FEI; the remaining 8 records carry truncated values. If someone gives you a 7-digit "FEI" for a facility in India or China, check it, because it is probably a CFN, a registration number from another program or a typo.

The leading digits do not encode the product type or location. In the same data, 7-digit FEIs show up on food, biologics, drug, veterinary and device inspections, so treat it as a plain identifier with no built-in meaning.

Who needs an FEI number?

Any facility FDA inspects or registers gets an FEI, whether it makes drugs, devices, biologics, food, cosmetics, animal products or tobacco. Most firms receive one automatically at their first registration or inspection. A firm needs to know its FEI when it files a generic drug fee self-identification, registers a cosmetic facility under MoCRA, or ships FDA-regulated product into the US.

FEIs turn up in more places than most quality teams expect:

• Generic drug facilities. FDA requires an FEI to self-identify and pay GDUFA facility fees, and its fee guidance gives foreign firms a dedicated mailbox for requesting one.
• Cosmetic facilities. FDA's MoCRA guidance uses the FEI as the facility registration number, so the FEI must exist before the registration is filed.
• Importers. FDA requires the manufacturer on import entries for most non-food lines, and CDRH encourages filers to add the device manufacturer's FEI so the entry matches the right facility.
• Places most people would not call manufacturers. The Atlas directory lists Delta Air Lines in Atlanta under 7-digit FEI 1028739, with 349 FDA inspections and 55 Form 483s on record, because FDA inspects food and water on interstate conveyances.

Multi-site companies hold one FEI per site. In the January 2025 to October 2026 inspection data, Vitalant had 65 separate FEIs inspected, The American National Red Cross at least 60 and CSL Plasma Inc. 37, one for each blood or plasma center.

How do you find your FEI number?

You find your FEI number on any Form 483, Establishment Inspection Report or FDA letter addressed to the facility. If you have none of those, search FDA's FEI Portal by firm name and physical address, or search the Atlas facility directory by name. If neither finds the facility, request a new FEI from FDA.

1. Check your own FDA paperwork. The "FEI NUMBER" box on a Form 483 is the quickest source, and EIRs and FDA correspondence carry the same number.
2. Search the Atlas facility directory. Type the firm name or the FEI into the FDA inspected sites directory; each facility record shows its FEI, inspections and Form 483s.
3. Use FDA's FEI Portal. Create a free account, then search by firm name and physical address, or enter an FEI to check the address FDA holds for it. A wrong address on file is worth fixing before your next registration or import entry.
4. Check registration records. Device registration searches accept a registration number or an FEI in the same field, which helps when the two are the same.
5. Request a new FEI. If the portal finds no match, email the FEI Portal team at feiportal@fda.hhs.gov with the firm's legal name and physical address. FDA's generic drug fee guidance also lists FDAGDUFAFEIRequest@fda.hhs.gov for foreign firms that need an FEI for fee self-identification.

Search on the physical address, not the corporate headquarters. The FEI belongs to the building where the work happens, so a search on head office details often returns the wrong facility or nothing at all.

How do you look up a facility's inspection record by FEI number?

You look up a facility's inspection record by entering its FEI in the Atlas inspection intelligence search, which returns the facility and every Form 483 on record for it. A search for FEI 3000241849 returns Pillar5 Pharma Inc. in Arnprior, Canada, and seven Form 483s from 2008 to 2026.

The Pillar5 Pharma facility record shows 11 FDA inspections from April 2002 to June 2026, seven of which ended with a Form 483. The most recent, the June 5, 2026 Form 483, cites four sections of 21 CFR Part 211:

The same facility drew 211.113(b), 211.192 and 211.42(c)(10)(v) on its February 7, 2025 Form 483 as well. Repeat sections across consecutive inspections are what a supplier qualification team needs to see, and they line up only when the record is keyed to one FEI.

Searching by FEI matters most for companies with several facilities. A name search for Eugia returns six facilities in the Atlas directory, each with its own FEI, including Eugia Pharma Specialities in Sangareddy, India, FEI 3008461619, with eight Form 483s from nine inspections. American Regent has five, from the 7-digit FEI 2410375 at its Shirley, New York facility, with 13 Form 483s from 22 inspections, to 10-digit FEIs in Ohio and California. The facility named in your supply agreement is the one whose FEI you should check.

Once you have the FEI and the facility's Form 483s, the next question is who will inspect it next and what that investigator usually cites.

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What can you do with an FEI number besides lookups?

An FEI number lets you join FDA's public datasets to each other. FDA's inspection classification data, Form 483 citation data, import refusals and compliance actions all carry the FEI, so one number links a facility's NAI, VAI or OAI outcomes to the exact CFR sections cited and to any import alert.

Three uses come up most often in quality and supplier teams:

• Supplier qualification. Pull every inspection for the FEI on the supplier's certificate, not every inspection for the parent company. Our guide to NAI, VAI and OAI classifications explains how to read the outcomes you find.
• Pre-inspection preparation. Check what FDA cited at your own FEI last time and at peer facilities making the same dosage form. FDA's foreign inspection data shows how often overseas sites now get unannounced visits.
• Data work. The FDA Data Dashboard guide covers what each FDA module shows and what it leaves out, including the Form 483 text itself.

New Form 483s keep arriving against FEIs you may already track, and the digest below sends the ones that matter as FDA posts them.

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