Organic petfood task force asking for your input

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) task force that developed the proposed organic petfood standard now under consideration by the National Organic Program (NOP) is soliciting input from both member and non-member companies. The task force is comprised of organic growers, certifiers, representatives of petfood companies, AAFCO members and FDA staff.
In November 2007 the NOSB unanimously accepted the proposal of the task force and forwarded it to NOP for rulemaking. The organic petfood segment, valued at about US$250 million in sales, was upended by a recent directive from NOP prohibiting the use of certain nutrients in pet ood to make them complete and balanced. While PFI encourages NOP to act on the proposed organic petfood standard, the Pet Food Institute (PFI) launched into action to resolve this impasse by establishing an Organic Task Force with Brian Connolly of Castor & Pollux as chair. PFI hired Dave Carter – a former chair of NOSB and a former maker of organic petfood – as a consultant and is supporting the process of petitioning NOP to accept nutrients necessary for petfood, such as taurine, that are not currently on the National List of substances allowed in organic production.
The task force is soliciting input from both member and non-member companies. This issue will be discussed at a PFI committee meeting on July 30 in Portland, Oregon, USA, just prior to the AAFCO meeting, and at the Feed and Pet Food Joint Industries Conference this fall. For more information, please write to info@petfoodinstitute.org or visit www.petfoodinstitute.org.

{The task force is soliciting input from both member and non-member companies. This issue will be discussed at a PFI committee meeting on July 30 in Portland, Oregon, USA, just before the AAFCO meeting, and at the Feed and Pet Food Joint Industries Conference this fall.}