As Election Day draws closer, the American Feed Industry Association's Executive Committee met with each presidential campaign to learn more about the candidates' priorities for agriculture. These two-way conversations served as a vital way for the AFIA leadership to share the animal food industry's policy priorities, planting the seed for the next administration to tackle them.
Last week, the American Feed Industry Association held a webcast for members to provide updates from the legislative and regulatory team. It covered a number of topics, including how the industry is responding to COVID-19 and what next steps include; a recap on state legislative activities; an update on progress made with speeding up the ingredient review process; the new AFIA-KSU online, on-demand feed training modules; a briefing on the upcoming Preventive Controls Qualified Individual course; and information on how members can advocate for issues affecting the industry.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials' (AAFCO) mid-year meeting occurred this week in Albuquerque, N.M. Over 380 attendees joined the meeting this week to address the variety of topics related to the state regulation of feed, feed ingredients and pet food. In combination with the meeting, the American Feed Industry Association's Feed Regulatory Committee (FRC) and Ingredient Approval and Definition Committee (IADC) also met, bringing together more than 140 industry members to discuss the latest state and federal regulatory activities.
Last week in Washington proved to be a busy one as the American Feed Industry Association saw success on two major policy priorities, the signing of a phase one trade agreement with China and the Senate's passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Both agreements are critically important tools of foreign market access for the U.S. animal food industry, but equally important is the momentum they bring toward finally getting things done in a Congress that has been frustratingly gridlocked.
The past few weeks in Washington have made big waves for agriculture and the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA). Though the House made history by voting to impeach the President this week and while these proceedings continued to capture the headlines and exhaust much of the political energy, significant progress was made on some priority issues for the animal food industry such as a win on appropriations for ingredient approvals, passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the House and the announcement of a phase-one trade agreement reached with China.
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) applauds the passage of bipartisan legislation to fund the federal government for the remainder of the 2020 fiscal year. The legislation, expected to be signed into law by President Trump today, not only averts a midnight deadline to shut down the government, but also achieves a very important AFIA policy priority to increase funding for animal food ingredient approvals.
This week in Washington was another of slow progress for American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) priorities as Congress came back to work following the Thanksgiving holiday.
This week in Washington has been consumed by impeachment hearings, with the legislative process grinding to a halt. The hearings, which went public for the first time Wednesday morning, have stolen much of the oxygen from Capitol Hill, slowing progress on American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) legislative priorities.
This week, Washington progressed key American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) legislative priorities, despite the House leaving town yesterday for another week of recess.
The American Feed Industry Association recently submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) on the use of data from foreign countries to support new animal drug applications and animal food additive petitions. Improving the efficiency of the FDA's ingredient review process is a top priority for AFIA.
As usual, it was a packed room to discuss feed ingredient definitions at the Association of American Feed Control Officials' (AAFCO) annual meeting this week in Louisville, Ky.
The land of horses and bourbon proved remarkable for the Association of American Feed Control Officials' (AAFCO) annual meeting in Louisville, Ky. The meeting kicked off this week with a workshop focused on the Food Safety Modernization Act. In combination with the meeting, the American Feed Industry Association's Feed Regulatory Committee (FRC) and Ingredient Approval and Definition Committee (IADC) also met, bringing together more than 140 industry members to discuss the latest state and federal regulatory activities.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a five-bill "minibus" spending measure that includes additional money for the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine animal food ingredient review and approval process. The bill passed on a party-line vote of 227-194.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials is reminding animal feed and pet food manufacturers that hemp and hemp byproducts are not approved for use in animal feed or pet food. AAFCO released updated information earlier this month regarding hemp.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb provided testimony to the House Appropriations Committee, Agriculture Subcommittee on the FDA's fiscal 2020 budget request this week in support of additional funding to improve ingredient reviews.
The American Feed Industry Association is making an appropriations request of Congress to improve the animal food ingredient review and approval process at the Food and Drug Administration. AFIA is asking Congress to appropriate an additional $8 million to hire new staff to help speed up animal food ingredient reviews at FDA.
Last Friday, March 15, the American Feed Industry Association successfully held its first webcast member update with the legislative and regulatory (L&R) team. It covered a number of topics, including ingredient approvals, international trade, Food Safety Modernization Act inspections and the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 293 (ISO/TC-293).
March 15, the American Feed Industry Association held its a webcast member update with the legislative and regulatory (L&R) team. It covered a number of topics, including ingredient approvals, international trade, Food Safety Modernization Act inspections and the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 293 (ISO/TC-293).
Over 340 people filled the room to discuss feed ingredient definitions at the Association of American Feed Control Officials' (AAFCO) mid-year meeting this week in Savannah, Ga.
On Friday, Oct. 5, the Association of American Feed Control Officials' Ingredient Definitions Committee will hold a webinar to take action on several ingredient definitions. As actions will be taken on ingredients, it is important that members share their concerns with the American Feed Industry Association before the webinar.
Over 430 people filled the room to discuss feed ingredient definitions at the Association of American Feed Control Officials' annual meeting last week in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The sun, beach and discussions on ingredient definitions and the latest state and federal regulatory activity equated to record attendance at the Association of American Feed Control Officials' annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 30-Aug. 1.
Last Tuesday, Congress passed H.R. 5554, the Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Amendments of 2018. This bipartisan legislation will continue the user fee program for animal drugs, supporting an expedient review process and expanding conditional approval for "major use, major species" drugs to treat animal illnesses and diseases. A win for the animal food industry, the final bill also included an amendment that will improve the review and approval process for new animal food ingredients.
Two American Feed Industry Association committee meetings have traditionally coincided with the Association of American Feed Control Officials' annual meeting: the Ingredient Approval and Definition Committee meeting and the Feed Regulatory Committee meeting. These meetings are open to any AFIA member; however, AFIA asks those interested in attending to RSVP so we can plan accordingly.
In February, Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., offered an amendment that would streamline the Food and Drug Administration's process for approving new animal feed additives and clarify existing rules and regulations the animal food manufacturing industry must follow. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed the amendment to S. 2434, the Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Amendments Act of 2018 (ADUFA and AGDUFA), Feb. 28, and the bill now awaits a full vote by the Senate.
The Senate and House have recently taken action on two bills that must be reauthorized by Sept. 30 in order for the Food and Drug Administration to continue collecting user fees in support of the review of animal drugs.
The American Feed Industry Association is working to modernize and improve the animal food ingredient review and approval process at the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine. The process is long overdue for an update as companies struggle with getting ingredients through the process and to market.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) held a lively debate and took action on several feed ingredient definitions at its mid-year meeting this week in Garden Grove, California.