The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) announced that its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not be renewed when it expires on October 1, 2024. MOU 225-07-7001, which outlines the two organizations’ responsibilities for defining animal feed ingredients, has been in place for 17 years.
“AAFCO believes that its ingredient definition process has been a shining example of successful collaboration and partnership between states and the federal government,” said Austin Therrell, executive director of AAFCO. “Although we are disappointed that the MOU is not being renewed, we are committed to being a conduit between the FDA and state regulatory programs, and to our work to provide standardization to the animal food industry.”
The FDA will continue to accept AAFCO Feed Ingredient Definition requests until the MOU expires. AAFCO investigators require roughly 30 days to prepare ingredient definition requests for the FDA, so AAFCO will stop accepting requests on September 1 in order to submit all definition requests prior to the October 1 expiration.
AAFCO and the FDA are independently working on plans that will provide a seamless transition and continue to support the U.S. animal food industry. The FDA is also evaluating its animal food ingredient review authorities and processes to determine if changes are needed to better serve public health and ensure new ingredients have a predictable path to market.
“This decision opens the doors for AAFCO to look at new and innovative solutions in the ingredient space, and to seek out additional partners that can provide strong, science-based guidance to our state officials,” added Therrell.
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) expressed its disappointment over the end of the relationship. The AFIA believes this relationship has been vital for building and maintaining confidence across the food chain that U.S. animal food products are safe – the ultimate goal of the industry’s customers at home and abroad.
“AFIA’s members are disheartened that the FDA will end its partnership with AAFCO, which for decades has ensured the regulatory review of animal food products is efficient, predictable and functional. In the United States, it takes an average of three to five years and $600,000 per ingredient before animal food innovators gain the approvals they need to sell and use their products in diets for domestic livestock and pets. Our members are concerned that uncertainty in the regulatory review processes brought about by today’s announcements will only increase those figures, making the U.S. animal ingredient marketplace an unattractive place to do business,” said AFIA's president and CEO, Constance Cullman. “The AFIA will continue working with the FDA and AAFCO on next steps to ensure any proposed changes to the current review processes bring about clear requirements for members and some sense that new ingredients will be reviewed in a timely and consistent manner across state and federal jurisdictions.”
