FDA Releases Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule

OABA Members Encouraged to Submit Comments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently released the Preventive Controls for Food for Animals proposed rule, which is required under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. Under the new proposed rule, facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for animals would be required to adhere to current good manufacturing practices and implement hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls.

Rulemaking Process and How to Submit Comments
The proposed rule, “Current Good Manufacturing Practices and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventative Controls for Food for Animals,” is published in the Federal Register so that the public can review it and submit comments. FDA considers comments received during the comment period on the proposed rule and then considers revising the rule, based on its review of the comments, before issuing a final rule. The proposed rule and supporting documents are filed in FDA’s official docket on http://www.regulations.gov/ and also can be accessed at www.fda.gov/fsma. Comments are due 120 dates after the publication date. Ohio AgriBusiness Association members are encouraged to submit comments.

Public Meetings
FDA also announced it will hold three public meetings on the Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Food for Animals. The first meeting will be held on Nov. 21 in College Park, Md. The second meeting will be on Nov.25 in Chicago, and the third on Dec. 6 in Sacramento, Calif. Visit the meeting page to view the agenda and additional information.

Additional Information

• Click here to review an FDA fact sheet.
• Click here to visit the FDA FSMA website.
• Click here to review a Q&A document that covers the new proposed regulations.  
• Click here to read a recent GrainNet article.

The Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law on Jan. 4, 2011, and provides the FDA with sweeping new authorities and requirements. FSMA was a bipartisan bill backed by the food and feed industries. It authorizes FDA to promulgate new rules for preventive controls, develop performance standards, create new administrative detention rules, provides authority for mandatory recall of adulterated products and provides authority for hiring more than 4,000 new field staff, among other provisions. It is unclear whether Congress will provide sufficient funding authorization to fully implement the law, but it is clear that FDA is proceeding with rulemaking to meet the new law’s regulatory deadlines.