The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued draft guidance to help animal producers ensure the safety of animal feed that is used on-farm, but the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) has concerns regarding the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The draft guidance outlines steps animal producers can take to identify and prevent feed contaminants that are sometimes present in the farm production environment and could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"Moving forward, our organization plans to review the draft guidance and potentially formulate additional comments with a working group compiled of industry during the next 75 days."
The FDA is accepting public comments on this draft guidance for 75 days from March 20.
