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Animal food industry weighs in on regs
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and associated groups take issue with the FDA’s proposed regulations for animal food safety under the Food Safety and Modernization Act.
Richard Sellers, regulatory affairs director of the AFIA, tells Brownfield the safety record in the animal feed and pet food industries is quite good, “We’ve got an enormous safety record in our industry. Our association is 104 years old and was actually formed to promote putting out safe ingredients and safe product.” Sellers says the proposed regulations follow human food regulations too closely and are too prescriptive, “They tell you exactly what they want to do and that’s a big concern of ours because it doesn’t allow for innovation in terms of new equipment and new ideas that come along if you’re tied to a regulation that doesn’t allow you any wiggle room.”
Sellers says the FDA did not do a cost/benefit analysis of the new regulations which one company estimates to be way out of balance, “You’ve got an over five-times cost-over-benefit but what’s an agency to do when Congress and the President mandate that these rules must be put out?”
The AFIA submitted comments to the FDA at the end of March on what it says is “the most massive overhaul of animal food industry regulations since 1958.”
Interview with Richard Sellers (13:00 mp3)
Tags: animal feed, Congress, FDA, Livestock
Cost/benefit analysis? The federal bureaucracy doesn’t think it needs any stinkin’ cost/benefit analysis. Same thing happened when the USDA/APHIS implemented the AWA Final Rule last November—very anti-pet-breeder and they claim a modest number of new licensees. They are getting sued big-time by a firm representing *19,000* small dog and cat breeders (who are also members of various breed-specific organizations) who are potentially affected by this (animal rights anti-breeder originated) Final Rule to the tune of *thousands* in improvements to bring them up to APHIS *commercial breeding standards*. Wanna keep your dogs and puppies in the house for socialization? Try it under the commercial standards that require washable floors, no cloth furniture, etc., etc. PLUS you have to be available for surprise inspections PLUS your personal information is then available on the USDA/APHIS web site for all the AR-crazies to get so they can harass you and file “anonymous” complaints.