Safety & Quality: Page 150

Pet Food Market

AAFCO holds petfood workshop

After a couple of years of discussion and planning, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), along with the Pet Food Institute (PFI), held a petfood regulatory workshop in early August, the day before AAFCO's Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The intent was to educate both regulators and industry professionals about the AAFCO Model Regulations for Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food (also known as Model Pet Food Regulations).

Brand Insights

Plasma: A Multi-Faceted Ingredient Supporting Health, Formula Functionality, and Nutrition in Pet Food

APC Inc

Discover how plasma protein supports pet health, boosts palatability, and improves pet food functionality and processing performance in modern formulations.

Safety & Quality

Feedback: AFIA's safety certification

Readers respond to Petfood Industry Editors

Pet Food Regulations

Surprise at AAFCO annual meeting

The 2008 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) was held August 1-4 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. During the general session, where the AAFCO membership as a whole votes on the recommendations made by the various committees over the past year, something unexpected happened.

Pet Food Regulations

FDA discusses petfood labeling and safety

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held public meetings over two consecutive days in mid-May to discuss issues pertaining to petfoods. The first meeting invited comment on     implementation of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA), while in the second meeting the agency provided an update on its Animal Feed Safety System (AFSS).

Pet Food Regulations

What veterinarians think about petfood

Most of my public presentations over the last several years have been directed toward the petfood industry. Thus, it was with some excitement but also a little trepidation that I was given the opportunity to speak before a veterinary audience.

Pet Food Regulations

Speak now or pay later

As of the time of this writing, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to issue an official Federal Register notice specifying the date and agenda of the public meeting to discuss the impact of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 on the promulgation of new federal petfood labeling requirements (see Petfood Industry, December 2007). Many in the public and industry are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hear FDA's plans and/or comment on this matter.

Pet Food Regulations

Petfood safety: US state legislatures chime in

In addition to new federal laws such as the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, a number of state legislative bodies have reacted to last year's petfood recalls. They have introduced several new proposals, primarily concerned with recovery of damages by persons whose pets are injured by adulterated petfoods. A few of the proposals add new responsibilities for petfood companies in terms of manufacturing or labeling requirements.

Safety & Quality

Keep a lid on it

There is an increased awareness about the importance of package integrity across many industries, and with the scrutiny heightening on ours, the pressure is on to invest in better quality inspection technologies that can be applied for both off-line testing and in-line automated inspection. Companies that keep using destructive test methods that were developed and approved for use decades ago should re-evaluate their process and investigate technologies that provide valuable data that will improve manufacturing processes, helping reduce overall costs.

Pet Food Regulations

AAFCO moves toward calorie statements

Fans of the band Asleep at the Wheel are likely familiar with its version of the song "Across the Alley from the Alamo" (much older folks will remember it as a Mills Brothers song). In the case of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) January mid-year meeting in San Antonio, Texas, USA, it was right across the street from the Alamo. In the shadow of this symbol of perseverance in times of adversity, AAFCO deliberated on petfood regulatory matters.

Safety & Quality

Something To Chew On: All eyes on the FDA

After the massive petfood recalls hit the US market last year, many fingers - at least those belonging to members of the US Congress, consumers and the media - were pointed at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Why wasn't the agency inspecting all imported materials before they entered the country? Why weren't all US petfood plants inspected regularly?

Pet Food Regulations

Recall update: regulatory changes

The events surrounding the contamination of petfoods and subsequent animal deaths in spring 2007 have focused public attention on how these products are regulated in the US. Clearly, the bulk of the regulatory activity in 2007 focused on manufacturing and ingredient safety rather than labeling matters, a pattern likely to be continued this year.

Pet Food Regulations

FDA, AAFCO sign feed ingredient agreement

The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning the process by which AAFCO Feed Ingredient Definitions, including those intended for use in petfoods, are established, modified or removed. This document seems to be a first step toward CVM's formal recognition of AAFCO's list of defined ingredients.

Previous Page

Page 150 of 155

Next Page