U.S. animal food industry pleased new guidance will permit manufacturers to keep using safe ingredients previously listed.
October 24, 2024
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published final guidance that will allow animal food manufacturers to continue using ingredients, previously reviewed for safety and published in the 2024 Association of American Feed Control Officials’ (AAFCO) Official Publication, in products sold in interstate commerce. The AAFCO Official Publication is the main resource state and international regulators use for ensuring domestic and global acceptance of safety for animal food ingredients, so without the FDA’s nod, the use of hundreds of ingredients could have been at risk for sale within the United States.
“We are encouraged by the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine’s decision to formally recognize the safety of hundreds of AAFCO-defined animal food ingredients, ensuring there is no question about their ability to be used or marketed within the United States and internationally,” said AFIA President and Chief Executive Officer Constance Cullman. “This decision is crucial for maintaining stability and confidence in our regulatory system, especially after the FDA recently ended its longstanding partnership with AAFCO on the review of new animal food ingredients.”
Before moving forward, AFIA said it will encourage the agency to accept the last ingredients completing their reviews under the prior FDA-AAFCO memorandum of understanding, which will be listed in future editions of the AAFCO Official Publication. AFIA members are also engaged in providing the FDA feedback on its additional efforts to modernize the existing and proposed regulatory review systems so that animal food ingredient innovators can not only bring their products to the U.S. marketplace in a timely, efficient manner but compete with competitors’ modernized regulatory systems.
As of Oct. 1, the FDA’s and AAFCO’s longstanding memorandum of understanding for reviewing new animal food ingredients officially ended, removing one of three regulatory review systems currently utilized by animal food innovators when bringing new products to market. The move raised concerns from the animal food industry on how the FDA would treat ingredients previously approved through AAFCO, rather than the FDA’s Generally Recognized as Safe or Food Additive Petition processes. The FDA’s guidance acknowledged that it would not take enforcement action against manufacturers that use ingredients listed in the 2024 AAFCO Official Publication, provided they remain safe for the intended species, are used according to their intended uses, specifications and limitations, and are listed under the official common and usual names chapter of the AAFCO Official Publication.
Given that animal food innovators could submit ingredients for review up until Sept. 1, 2024, there are many ingredients still awaiting review through the AAFCO review process, a process that lasts several months to years. The U.S. animal food industry encourages the FDA to update its guidance annually to accept future editions of the AAFCO Official Publication to be inclusive of all ingredients that have utilized this pathway.
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