AFIA expresses concerns over FDA feed safety guidance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued draft guidance to help animal producers ensure the safety of animal feed that is used on-farm, but the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) has concerns regarding the guidance.
The draft guidance outlines steps animal producers can take to identify and prevent feed contaminants that are sometimes present in the farm production environment and could jeopardize the health of farm animals and the safety of human food derived from the animals, the FDA said.
The guidance applies to all feed offered to farm animals, whether the feed is obtained from commercial suppliers or produced on the farm. It also applies to products consumed by animals during pasture grazing, pre- or post-harvest grazing, free-range feeding, and forage-crop feeding.
After the document’s release, AFIA senior vice president Richard Sellers made the following statement:
"At first blush, we show concern surrounding the encouragement of animal producers to contact FDA with problems, but the neglect to mention the importance of contacting the firm whose name is on the label. AFIA intends to ask FDA to amend the draft to tell producers to contact the manufacturer about potential feed concerns.
"Moving forward, our organization plans to review the draft guidance and potentially formulate additional comments with a working group compiled of industry during the next 75 days."
The FDA is accepting public comments on this draft guidance for 75 days from March 20.

IFIF joins Feed Schemes Observatory to create benchmark system for feed safety assurance schemes

The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) has joined as a partner in the Feed Schemes Observatory (FSO), a global initiative between the feed industry, Feed Assurance Schemes and the International Trade Center, which aims to create an independent, transparent and impartial benchmark system for feed safety assurance schemes.
"We are delighted to join as a partner of the FSO, and to contribute to creating a benchmark system for feed safety assurance schemes for the global feed chain, as well as to build bridges of communication within the value chain and with regulators," said Alexandra de Athayde, IFIF executive director.
Dr. Reinder Sijtsma, IFIF board of directors member, said the benchmarking scheme should "improve the comparability of the main principles and requirements that concern feed safety assurance schemes and reduce technical barriers to trade in the feed chain. The project also aims to transfer knowledge and capacity building and raise awareness of the importance of the auditing and certification for safety in the feed sector."

FDA urged to extend comment period on feed safety rules

The National Grain and Feed Association has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to extend the comment periods on two sets of proposed rules issued by the agency to implement significant portions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
The NGFA did so, it said, because the agency still has not issued proposed regulations implementing the animal feed and pet food provisions of the law, whose requirements are expected to be closely linked and interrelated to the other two rulemakings for which the comment period extension was sought. The two proposed rules, both of which were issued on July 26 with a comment deadline of November 26, involve requiring firms to implement foreign verification programs for imported products and accreditation of third-party auditors.
The NGFA is aiming to extend the comment periods on the two proposed rules for 120 days after publication of the animal feed and pet food proposed rule.
"The ability of the NGFA and other stakeholders to provide constructive, relevant and well-reasoned comments on these two proposed rules will be enhanced greatly if adequate time and opportunity is provided to review and analyze the still-pending animal food proposed rules, as well as the complex interrelationships between the two," the NGFA wrote in its request to FDA. The NGFA also said that the comment period on the animal feed and pet food rules likely will coincide with the Thanksgiving and winter holidays.

New product safety requirements focus at annual feed, pet food conference

Feed, feed ingredient and pet food manufacturers will hear the latest on major new product safety requirements likely to be implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the fourth annual Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference, scheduled for September 25-26 in Indianapolis, Ind.
More than 300 industry members are expected to attend the event, hosted by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and the Pet Food Institute (PFI) at the downtown JW Marriott Hotel.
"Given the Food and Drug Administration's ongoing efforts to implement the expansive Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the program will place a major emphasis on the anticipated regulatory requirements that feed, feed ingredient suppliers and pet food manufacturers will face, as well as the growing demands being made on these industries by their customers," said NGFA President Randy Gordon.
"The array of high-caliber industry faculty and legal experts on the program will provide insights into not only what likely will be required, but how to comply in the most cost-effective way possible," said PFI President Duane Ekedahl. "We encourage companies to send their key management and operations personnel, as they will benefit from the interaction."
This segment of the program will focus on the anticipated impacts of FDA's soon-to-be-announced proposed rule under the FSMA that will require feed and pet food manufacturers to conduct a hazard analysis and implement preventive controls to address "reasonably foreseeable" hazards to provide assurance that such products are safe. During the session, Brian Waldman, partner at the Washington-based law firm of Arent Fox, will provide legal perspectives on the pending requirements, and industry experts from PFI and NGFA will offer insights and comments on anticipated compliance issues.
Meanwhile, Dr. Martine Hartogensis, deputy director, Office of Surveillance and Compliance at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, will review the status of FSMA rulemaking, as well as the agency's wide-ranging regulatory and guidance initiatives planned in 2014 for the feed and pet food industries. In addition, NGFA Vice President of Feed Services David Fairfield will discuss work being done by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance to develop feed and pet food education and training materials designed to facilitate FSMA compliance. And the Association of American Feed Control Official's (AAFCO) feed ingredient-approval process and other initiatives underway at the professional organization of state and federal regulators will be addressed by AAFCO Immediate Past President Robert Waltz.
The feed and pet food safety theme will continue with a presentation by Dr. Benjamin Warren, director of product safety and regulatory affairs at Land O'Lakes Inc., on how feed and pet food manufacturers can source raw materials and ingredients that meet desired safety and quality parameters.
Other topics featured on the program include:

• Issues surrounding ballot initiatives to require labeling of food products containing biotech ingredients (including feed) featuring Dr. Cathleen Enright, executive vice president for the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
• A 2014 market outlook for grains, oilseeds and other ingredients used by the feed and pet food sectors, featuring NGFA Director of Economics and Government Relations Max Fisher.
• A panel featuring top leadership from the poultry, swine and rendering industries on challenges affecting their sectors of animal agriculture.
• A focus on international trade initiatives designed to expand market access for U.S. agricultural products, including meat and poultry featuring Karil Kochenderfer, principal, LINKAGES - Global Trade, Government and Public Affairs.
• Perspectives on the need for greater transparency between feed and pet food companies and their stakeholders by Andy Vance, staff editor, marketsand economics at FEEDSTUFFS magazine.
• The legislative and regulatory outlook in Washington, featuring James Wiesemeyer, senior vice president, Informa Economic
PFI and NGFA noted that the conference will kick-off with a welcome reception from 5-7 p.m. in the conference's trade show on September 24. The official program will occur all day on September 25 and conclude by 11 a.m. on September 26.
Program, registration and hotel reservation information is available at www.ngfa.org/feedpetfood.

FDA issues compliance guide for Salmonella in animal feeds, pet food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released a new Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) for its field staff on actions they intend to take when finding Salmonella contamination in food for animals. Under this new guide, the FDA will be able to target its resources more effectively to protect the health of both animals and humans, according to the agency.
For livestock and horse feeds, the CPG outlines a risk-based enforcement policy for animal feed that is contaminated with Salmonella, focusing on the strains that are capable of causing disease in the animal for which the food is intended. The CPG provides examples of Salmonella strains that have been reported to cause disease in a specific animal species (for example, swine feed contaminated with Salmonella Choleraesuis.)
Any pet food or pet food ingredient contaminated with Salmonella is considered potentially harmful to health if it isn't intended to undergo a subsequent treatment to kill bacteria. Pet foods include dog and cat foods, aquarium fish foods, treats, chews, nutritional supplements and other pet products. The FDA maintains a zero-tolerance policy for Salmonella in pet food because it can pose risks to human health when people who are "at-risk" (children, the elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems) come into direct contact with contaminated pet food.
Because people are much less likely to come into direct contact with animal feeds, the FDA is most concerned about the strains of Salmonella that are capable of causing disease in the animal for which the feed is intended.
In concert with the new CPG, the FDA also revoked an Advisory Opinion from 1967 that described a zero-tolerance policy for any strain of Salmonella in certain animal feed ingredients, even if it was not capable of causing foodborne illness, in favor of the risk-based policy in the CPG. The FDA also withdrew an earlier Compliance Policy Guide that covered only dry dog food. Dry dog food is now included in the scope of the new CPG. The FDA continues to have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to Salmonella in dry dog food, as well as other pet foods.