PET Food Processing - December 2022 - 26

REGULATORY
" Without this policy change, our country will
continue to lag behind most of the world in
approving safe and effective feed ingredients with
animal production, environmental and other benefits. "
Leah Wilkinson, AFIA
ingredient reviews. Over the last 15 years, resources tightened
within the agency, making it difficult to hire or fill
vacancies when staff moved to new positions or retired.
Also during this time, the CVM staff were pulled away
for competing higher-priority issues (such as writing and
implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act regulations).
This tightening of resources combined with the
fact that the CVM has taken broad, and sometimes excessive,
interpretations of its policies has led to significant
delays in approvals for new animal food ingredients.
Congress directed the CVM to streamline the agency's
requirements for its food additive regulations related to
manufacturing requirements and the use of foreign data,
which resulted in Guidance for Industry #262. Congress
also removed the requirement in the Food and Drug
Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) for
the CVM to establish standards for ingredient use in animal
food. This allowed for continued participation and
recognition of the ingredients published in AAFCO's
Official Publication.
The CVM also went through a reorganization
this past summer, which
separated the pre-approval areas of
work (i.e., animal food ingredient reviews)
and compliance efforts. This
means that staff within the newly
named Division of Animal Food
Ingredients can concentrate on their
responsibilities for reviewing new animal
food ingredients and not get called
into other efforts within the agency.
Harmonizing international
data requirements,
approvals
Another effort is the collaboration
with the International Cooperation
for Convergence of Technology
Requirements for the Assessment of
Feed Ingredients (ICCF). The ICCF
was launched in 2017 by feed regulators
and feed industry associations
in the United States, Canada and
European Union and in conjunction
The pet food industry
cannot provide new
pet food and treats
with innovative
ingredients without
efficient ingredient
review systems in
place.
©Satawat - stock.adobe.com
The AFIA has sought to address these issues with the
FDA and Congress, and in the last three years, a total of
$6 million in new funding has been appropriated to the
CVM as a result of these advocacy efforts. This money
has allowed the agency to hire 12 full-time staff to fill
vacancies and provide expertise in new scientific areas,
like microbiology and biotechnology, to fill knowledge
gaps in the division. These individuals have been on
board for two years, and the industry is starting to see a
faster turnaround speed for food additive petitions and
AAFCO definitions, which is much appreciated.
26 PET FOOD PROCESSING | December 2022 | www.petfoodprocessing.net
with the International Feed Industry Federation. We
work collaboratively to develop and establish common
guidance that covers the technical requirements in the
studies and data needed to review new ingredients. The
aim is to facilitate the approval of animal food ingredients
across these jurisdictions by establishing an agreement
of what is needed in a study so a company can conduct
one study that will be accepted in each jurisdiction,
instead of having to do three different studies meeting
different sets of requirements for each jurisdiction.
The ICCF asks each of its members to contribute to
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PET Food Processing - December 2022

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