4 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE March 2024 For several decades, our efforts to innovate in the animal food space to meet the changing needs of producers have been met with both obstacles and slow steps toward progress. Recently, the animal food industry has seen positive movement on key issues at the federal and international levels that reflect a shift toward aligning regulations with scientific advancements, crucial for addressing global needs such as sustainability and food security. Yet, challenges persist, including bureaucratic inaction and the threat of ongoing supply chain disruptions. At the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), we are committed to change, advocating for necessary regulatory modernization, interventions to head off supply chain bottlenecks and funding for programs to support market access in key countries. As the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches, work may slow, but the march toward a resilient future for the industry will continue. ALIGNING ANIMAL FEED INGREDIENT REVIEWS WITH GLOBAL SYSTEMS On Feb. 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced the withdrawal of its 1998 Program Policy and Procedures Manual Guide 1240.3605. The unprecedented action sent a clear signal to animal food innovators that the CVM’s former way of regulating animal food ingredients with certain non-nutritive benefits is finally changing to keep pace with scientific innovation. Previously, many novel feed ingredients that act within the gut of animals to bring about environmental, food safety or production benefits have endured overly burdensome yearslong reviews and approval processes since the CVM deemed them to be drugs, not feeds. This timely, costly process led many innovators to look abroad first, in places such as Europe, Brazil and Australia, where they were more appropriately regulated as feed, when bringing their ingredients to market. Farmers in these countries are already realizing the quantifiable benefits from using these ingredients in animal diets, yet in the United States, the same ingredients languish in the CVM’s review process. Since 2020, the AFIA has been leading an effort, with stakeholders, to change this outdated policy. Support for the change has also been building in the U.S. Congress, where in 2023, both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House introduced companion legislation—the Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (Innovative FEED) Act (H.R.6687/S. 1842)—aimed at codifying the regulatory pathway for animal food ingredients impacting the microbiome of animals, food safety or byproducts from the animal’s digestive process. The CVM shared that its latest action to withdraw from the nearly 30-year-old policy is intended to facilitate and encourage the development of safe, novel animal food ingredients for unmet human and animal needs, in line with its innovation agenU.S. ANIMAL FOOD INDUSTRY MARCHES TOWARD RESILIENT FUTURE Constance Cullman AFIA President and Chief Executive Officer LEAD ARTICLE
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