November 20, 2013
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a new rule on current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) and preventive controls for food intended for animals, focusing on preventing problems in order to improve the safety of these products.
The preventive controls provisions of the proposed rule, which are required by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, would apply to domestic and imported animal food, including pet food, animal feed, and raw materials and ingredients.
Facilities producing animal food would be required to have written plans that identify hazards, specify the steps that will be put in place to minimize or prevent those hazards, identify monitoring procedures and record monitoring results, and specify what actions would be taken to correct problems that arise.
Comments for the new proposed rule are due February 26, 2014.