FDA Releases Draft Guidance on GMPs for Animal Feed

 FDA issued Draft Guidance for Industry #235 - Current Good Manufacturing Practice Requirements for Food for Animals "to help facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold animal food for consumption in the United States comply with CGMP requirements in areas such as personnel, plant and grounds, sanitation, water supply and plumbing, equipment and utensils, plant operations, and holding and distribution. The guidance also includes information on training and related recordkeeping. The CGMPs required under the Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule are flexible to address the diversity of facilities and animal foods, the wide range of animal food activities, and the potential safety risks posed by some animal foods."

This guidance contains information to help these facilities determine whether they need to comply with the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements for animal food and provides additional information and recommendations for compliance with the CGMP requirements for animal food, as well as compliance with related requirements such as training and recordkeeping.

FDA Issues Draft Guidance for Facilities Sending By-Products for Use in Animal Feed

FDA issued a draft guidance for food processing facilities that send their by-products for animal feed. For example, a company sending peels or rinds after processing produce, or a company sending over baked cookies to a hog farmer.  The following is the important sections from this draft guidance.

Industrial Oil Recalled after Being Used in Feed.

An Ohio company is recalling Soyoil containing Lascadoil, industrial processing waste oil, which was intended for non-food product or bio-fuels but may have been used as a feed ingredient.  Use of it in feed may have resulted in the deaths of some turkeys.

Interesting is the fact that this comes as FDA looks to implement preventive control for feed for animals as a part of the FSMA regulation.

Shur-Green Farms is basically a recycler of food waste.  The website (excerpt below) positions itself as a green company taking waste and putting it to best use.  Certainly that is admirable.  But you can imagine that waste streams may be challenging.  While not sure in this case, but if a person inadvertently contaminated a waste product, and then sent it to this company for recycling, and the assumption is made that it can be used in feed...then there can be issues.


FDA Recall Notice
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm420543.htm
Shur-Green Farms Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Lascadoil/Soyoil Due to Possible Lasalocid Contamination

Contact:
Consumer:
937-459-2768

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — October 23, 2014 — Shur-Green Farms LLC(Ansonia, OH) has voluntarily recalled loads of Soyoil containing Lascadoil, industrial processing waste oil, which was intended for non-food product or bio-fuels but may have been used as a feed ingredient. This voluntary recall is the result of death in turkeys.

The recall includes load sold on or before September 17, 2014.

Updated Proposal for FSMA Animal Feed Reg Relaxes Requirements for Food Companies Supplying Waste for Feed

The FDA announced some changes in the proposed rule for  Preventive Controls of Animal Food.

One of the biggest changes was reducing the requirements on food companies that provide their waste products for animal feed.  Basically, you would not need a HACCP based system, just controls to prevent chemical and physical contamination.

Human food processors already complying with FDA human food safety requirements, such as brewers, would not need to implement additional preventive controls or Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations when supplying a by-product (e.g., wet spent grains, fruit or vegetable peels, liquid whey) for animal food, except for proposed CGMPs to prevent physical and chemical contamination when holding and distributing the by-product (e.g., ensuring the by-product isn’t co-mingled with garbage).

They also are making the cGMP requirements more applicable to the type of feed being produced.  However, like the Human Foods updated proposal, they are looking at the possibility of adding language to affect product testing, environmental control, and supplier control.


FDA Website
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm366510.htm
FSMA Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Animal Food
Establish Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals
Based on FDA outreach efforts and public comments, the FDA is proposing a number of revisions to its proposed rule on preventive controls for animal food that are more flexible and less burdensome in key areas.

Food Producers Push Back on FSMA's Feed Rule

A number of food producers, impacted by FSMA Animal Feed Regulation, have commented to FDA about the impositions that the regulation will make.

Many of the waste products generated by food processing plants, including grains generated by distillers, will be subject to the feed regulation because these products are fed to animals.  The concern is that the producers will have to absorb additional costs to implement additional food safety controls over their waste streams.  And in reality, there have been really no issues to support the need for this level of control.

 

For many, it may come to the point where it is more cost effective to dump rather then use these items for feed.  From a sustainability standpoint, this is not the way to go.  The regulation needs to written that makes it easy, yet safe, for producers to continue to use their waste streams, when appropriate, as a source of animal feed.