The Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (Innovative FEED) Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 18.
The Innovative FEED Act would amend the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to allow for a new category of animal food substances that act solely within animals’ gut microbiomes or in the feed they are digesting to provide a wide range of benefits, giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power it needs to ensure regulations keep pace with scientific innovation in feed.
The bill would “modify the existing, inappropriate regulatory process that has prevented animal feed innovators from delivering new animal feed solutions to the American marketplace that would improve animal health and production, food safety and on-farm conservation,” the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) said in a press release.
Currently, the Food and Drug Administration regulates certain new animal food ingredients through the cumbersome animal drug review process. The Innovative FEED Act aims to cut the bureaucratic red tape by amending the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to more appropriately regulate these ingredients through the existing Food Additive Petition (FAP) process, an internationally recognized pinnacle of safety review. This change would allow animal food innovators to more transparently label and market their products based on their intended benefits, such as better livestock production and performance, reduced food safety pathogens, improved pet wellness and reduced environmental impact.
The FDA already has the authority to review new animal food ingredients, but this legislation is necessary to codify in statute the FAP as the regulatory pathway through which these ingredients are reviewed.
“This bill is necessary to fix a broken regulatory system that has forced animal food innovators to pursue foreign markets and not America first,” said AFIA President and CEO Constance Cullman. “By more appropriately regulating 21st century feed and pet food ingredients, this bill will help usher in the animal nutrition innovations U.S. farmers and ranchers need to enhance animal health and production and support on-farm conservation, while providing pet owners with more nutrition options to support their aging pets.”
The Innovative FEED Act is supported by many organizations across the food and agriculture industry, including the National Milk Producers Federation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Grain and Feed Association, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Animal Supplement Council, North American Renderers Association, Meat Institute, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, Agricultural Retailers Association, and the American Pet Products Association.
