The
Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) held its annual meeting
in Portland, Oregon, USA, July 31 through August 2, 2010. The Pet Food
Committee (PFC) session generated many newsworthy items. Other news from the
AAFCO meeting will appear in next month’s column.
The
issue of calorie content statements provoked the liveliest discussion. The
report of the Working Group for Weight Related Terms and Calories was
previously accepted by PFC at the “mid-year” meeting last January, but time
constraints limited discussion of the report itself. At this meeting, the floor
was open to discussion of the report’s recommendations.
The
recommendations included amendment to AAFCO Model Regulation PF9 (Statements of
Calorie Content) that would require calorie content statements on all dog and
cat food labels (with minor exceptions), not just “lite” or “less calorie”
products as currently required. The amendments to PF9 would also stipulate
declaration both in terms of kilocalories of metabolizable energy per kilogram
and per common household unit (e.g., cups, cans, biscuits) and add language to
the label statement when calories are determined by the digestibility trial
method.
However,
the report also recommended simplifying the requirement for data from which
calories are determined by the calculation method and eliminated the need for
the value declared in the calorie statement determined by a digestibility trial
to be within 15% of the calculation method. So, while a broader range of
products would be affected by the amended regulation, the capacity for both compliance
by manufacturers and enforcement by feed control officials would be facilitated.
The
report’s recommendations also included amendment of PF10 (Descriptive Terms) to
specify requirements for labels bearing “weight management” and “weight
control” claims. After extended debate, PFC voted in favor of the report’s recommendations
in full.
The issue of calorie content statements provoked the liveliest discussion.PFC
intends to discuss some nuances in the regulatory language at the next meeting,
after which the proposed amendments are expected to move to the Model Bill
& Regulations Committee to review them for consistency with current Model
language. The proposed amendments would eventually need to be voted on by the board
of directors and full AAFCO membership before enacted. After enactment, a sufficient
grace period to allow for revision of affected labels is expected and
reasonable.
A
new AAFCO website designed to help small manufacturers understand and comply
with labeling and other regulatory requirements was revealed at the meeting. It
is intended to become a one-stop shop to help answer many of the questions from
companies that often burden feed control officials. The demonstration of the
new site received great applause from the audience.
AAFCO’s
Small Manufacturing Working Group is still adding final touches, so the website
is not accessible to the public at this time. It is likely to go online later
this fall, after which more details will be provided in this column. A
similarly constructed website to help address the questions of consumers is
also in the works.
The
three subgroups under the Nutrient Profiles and Feeding Protocols Expert Panel
have completed their respective tasks in drafting recommendations for changes
to dog and cat food nutritional adequacy requirements, it was reported. The panel
as a whole has not finished with its internal review, however. The panel chair
indicated the report will be brought forward to PFC by the mid-year meeting,
ready or not.
There
was no news regarding development of federal petfood regulations as mandated by
the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007. The act was in part an
outcome of US Congressional hearings regarding the melamine-related recalls
earlier that year.
The
Feed Labeling Committee accepted new proposed regulations to allow for claims
relating to dietary starch, sugars and fructans content on animal feed labeling
at the last mid-year meeting. However, the proposed amendment that is moving
forward expressly exempts petfoods.
A new AAFCO website will be designed to help small manufacturers understand and comply with labeling and other regulatory requirements.While recommendations for similar claims on
petfood labels were also developed, there was no consensus, so the matter has
been forwarded to PFC for further deliberation. To that end, a new working
group under PFC has been formed to deliberate on possible carbohydrate-related
claims on petfood labels.