Regulatory authorities and feed and feed ingredient associations from Canada, the European Union and the U.S. met in Brussels in May to launch the International Cooperation for Convergence of Technical Requirements for the Assessment of Feed Ingredients (ICCF). This important international cooperation aims to develop and establish common guidance that covers technical requirements for the assessment of new feed ingredients, including new uses of existing feed ingredients

Founding ICCF members include the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the European Commission (DG SANTE), the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, as well as the American Feed Industry Assn. (AFIA), the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC), the EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients & their Mixtures (FEFANA) and the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF).

ICCF chair Melissa Dumont highlighted the importance of this initiative, saying “the ICCF is the result of a concerted effort to bring together feed regulators and industry feed associations to work together to develop common guidance documents for technical requirements needed in the assessment of feed ingredients. This will benefit not only the three regions covered, as the guidance documents will be made available for reference and use by other jurisdictions around the globe.”

Dumont added, “This initiative will also help to facilitate free and fair trade of feed ingredients as well as support the feed and food chain as it works to safely and sustainably meet the global growing demand for animal protein."

The ICCF steering committee, made up of representatives from the founding members of the ICCF, is responsible for defining the priorities and activities of the project and will establish the first expert working groups, which will be tasked with developing specific technical guidance documents.

As this initiative develops, observer countries will be invited to join the expert groups and may be invited as non-voting members to the ICCF steering committee on an ad hoc basis.

The ICCF builds on the work of the IFIF "Comparison of Regulatory Management of Authorized Ingredients, Approval Processes & Risk-Assessment Procedures for Feed Ingredients" report, which covered synergies and gaps for product approvals in Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, Japan, South Africa and the U.S. This report was drafted based on expert input and supported by government feed regulators and feed and feed ingredients associations in the seven regions covered.