Despite the expectation that the Food and Drug Administration will phase out its participation in the Association of American Feed Control Officials feed ingredient definition process by 2012, there are still many ingredients in the definition pipeline. During its “mid-year” meeting in January, AAFCO took action on a number of new and proposed ingredients, at least a few of which have impact on petfoods.

I am not a Luddite. Admittedly, though, I do tend to keep using my electronic gadgetry for periods well beyond their optimal utility. Thus, it was a rare and auspicious occasion when I recently retired my 12-year-old cell phone in favor of both a new smart phone and a new tablet computer (I won’t divulge the brand name of these items, but it rhymes with “Snapple”). With that update in equipment I quickly became exposed to the wonderful world of Apps (short for applications) and became particularly interested in those related to petfoods.

The implementation of a “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) notification process for animal feed ingredients has been eagerly awaited for years. It is not surprising, then, that the announcement by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) of its intent to start accepting notifications this past summer was met with great enthusiasm by the petfood industry.

Last month, I reported on the activities of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Pet Food Committee during its annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA, in early August. This month I cover items that occurred outside of the Pet Food Committee session but still may affect petfoods.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) held its annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA, July 31 through August 2, 2010. The Pet Food Committee (PFC) session generated many newsworthy items.

My attendance at the meeting also afforded me the opportunity to learn much from the other speakers. Particularly interesting were several presentations on feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) and how the understanding of the role of diet in its pathophysiology and treatment has changed.

The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long objected to use of the terms "probiotics" and "prebiotics" on animal feed and petfood labeling. However, at the 2010 Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Feed Administrator's Seminar (an annual training program for state regulators), CVM indicated the intent to remove its objection to that verbiage.