Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Government regulation in the petfood industry

Currently, natural petfoods and supplements are regulated at a federal level by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Center for Veterinary Medicine, but many pet parents and manufacturers feel a need for tighter oversight of the petfood industry, according to an article from Natural Products Marketplace.
For greater regulation than the government provides, the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) puts its seal on approved products. NASC is comprised of companies in the industry that have passed an on-site audit conducted every two years at random by NASC officials. Additionally, NASC performs independent product tests and reviews product claims for misleading statements, while maintaining an independent adverse event reporting (AER) system.
All NASC members are required to follow a written quality manual that meets good manufacturing practices (GMP) standards. This goes one step further than FDA, which requires natural human products to follow GMPs but not pet health products. Petfood GMPs are being developed by FDA's Animal Feed Safety System (AFSS) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

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