As the North American animal feeding industries continue to grapple with the fallout from an Oct. 31 fire at BASF's Citral plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which has led to a global shortage of vitamins A and E, many feed manufacturers are revising feed formulations with reduced levels of these vitamins in order to continue to provide feed to livestock.

In Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently said a change to the guarantees for vitamins A and E in a registered feed is considered an administrative amendment. Due to the temporary nature of the situation, CFIA's Animal Feed Division and Pre-Market Application Submissions Office have developed an interim guidance.

According to CFIA, registrants reformulating feeds in order to conserve their inventory of vitamins A and E will be required to provide a notification of reformulation and attest that their labeling accurately reflects the nutrient guarantees. The revised guarantees will continue to fall within the requirements of Table IV of the Feeds Regulations, and the guarantees for these vitamins will return to the levels as approved in their registrations when the supply of vitamins A and E has stabilized.

A copy of the notification and attestation form is available upon request via email to [email protected].

The interim policy is in effect in Canada until May 31.

The temporary reformulation of feeds to reduce levels of vitamins A and E is not expected to cause any undue safety or welfare risks to livestock, CFIA said.

BASF has launched a website at https://nutrition.basf.com/en/Citral-plant.html with information on the status of the repair at its Citral plant as well as already achieved milestones and lead times for products.