Like a scene from the romantic comedy "It's Complicated," the regulatory landscape for pet food manufacturers has become increasingly tangled. Instead of Meryl Streep juggling business and love, industry stakeholders are wrestling with numerous new changes.
The upheaval spans multiple fronts: the termination of the longstanding memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) on feed ingredient approvals; the rollout of the FDA's interim Animal Food Ingredient Consultation (AFIC) process; and AAFCO's collaboration with Kansas State University's Olathe Innovation Campus (KSO) on creating a new ingredient review process. Clearly, change is the name of the game this year. Adding to these shifts, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for the voluntary elimination of synthetic food dyes and raised questions about the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) designation process.
