FDA Agrees to Rewrite Draft Animal Feed Regulation after NMPF Raises Concerns
May 6, 2014
NMPF joined other farm groups in blasting a draft Food and Drug Administration livestock feed regulation, saying the agency went beyond Congress’ intent and proposed requirements that will not make animal feed safer. NMPF asked FDA to rewrite the regulation and open a new round of comments from industry and the public.
Among other things, NMPF said the draft incorrectly imposes safety standards on animal feed that are similar to those for human food. “The innate hygienic standards of humans exceed the hygienic standards of livestock,” NMPF said.
The draft regulation was issued under the Food Safety Modernization Act, which gave the FDA broad new authority to regulate food. NMPF said it supports the 2010 law, but believes that the draft regulation goes too far, in particular because it would make it harder to use brewers’ grain as animal feed, a practice in use for hundreds of years.
This “will result in unnecessary increased costs to dairy producers,” NMPF said. It joined the Beer Institute and the American Malting Barley Association in asking FDA to exempt feed products made during alcoholic beverage production from the regulation. Late last month, FDA officials indicated they will change the proposed regulation of brewers’ and distillers’ grains in light of the opposition of NMPF and other organizations.
In separate comments submitted with the International Dairy Foods Association, NMPF identified unnecessary requirements for dairy processing plants, which divert some food materials such as cheese trim and liquid whey to animal feed. NMPF said the proposed standards “do not reflect the inherent differences between foods for human and animal consumption.”
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