The bill, HR 2749, passed unanimously out of the energy & commerce committee June 17, but it still has a long way to go before it becomes law, said Richard Sellers, vice president of the American Feed Industry Association.

Sellers spoke at a Minnesota Grain and Feed Association Feed Forum June 17 in Owatonna.

House floor action on HR 2749 isn’t expected until after the Fourth of July recess this week, Sellers said.

Lawmakers are writing the legislation to deal with salmonella in peanuts, salmonella in tomatoes and melamine in cat food, but because the law that governs the industry defines food as food for man or animals, the regulations stretch to the feed mill and feed ingredient industry, Sellers said.

The feed mill and feed ingredient industry are governed by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which is administered by the Food & Drug Administration. The FDA was created in 1938.

Forty-nine states have feed laws, most of which pre-date FDA by 40-50 years, Sellers said. The state laws apply within states, while the federal regulations apply to commerce between states. State officials do most of the feed monitoring. Feed mills are required to produce an unadulterated ingredient and they run adulteration tests, Sellers said.

The AFIA is monitoring several bills that have been introduced to change the nation’s food and feed safety systems. Most bills require a written management plan, mandatory FDA recall authority, better produce control, more import controls, and third-party certification recognition. There will also be inspection fees.

HR 2749 would require that food preparation surfaces be sanitized. In a feed mill, that’s a mixer and it doesn’t make sense to sanitize a mixer between batches, Sellers said. The level of pathogen control in a feed mill and food plant should be different, he said. The AFIA is lobbying to exempt the feed industry from many of the regulations in HR 2749 that don’t apply and are specific to human food.

The association did manage to secure some language that allows the FDA secretary to exclude the feed industry from some of the proposed regulations. Sellers said they would prefer that “human food” be substituted for “food.”

“Feed safety is our top priority,” Sellers said. Regulations need to address the industry they are targeted for, not the food industry, he said.

They are talking to Democrats from farm states and Republicans who tend to be more business friendly to advocate for their cause. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-IL, has introduced similar legislation in the Senate, S. 510, but it’s not been into committee yet.

The AFIA represents more than 500 corporate members that manufacture more than 70 percent of the nation’s 170 million tons of feed and 75 percent of the nation’s specialty feed ingredients.

Source: Agri News