Pet Food Industry Association of South Africa vows to eliminate petfood fraud

The Pet Food Industry Association of Southern Africa (PFI) has vowed to eliminate petfood fraud in 2011 and protect South African pet owners from "rogue petfood manufacturers."
PFI "will put all its forces and energy behind cleaning up any illegal practices in the petfood industry that harm the image of the industry and may possibly place pets at risk," according to an association statement. Consumers can do their part by only buying commercial petfood that has a "V" number followed by "Act 36 of 1947" on its packaging. This indicates that the food has been registered by its manufacturer or distributor. “It is absolutely critical for pet owners to ensure that the food they purchase is registered with the department, as this is the only way to ensure that the minimum nutritional standards are met and that the food has been examined to ensure this, and, further, that your pet is getting the best possible and safe food for them,” said PFI Executive Director Barry Hundley

PFI elects Bob Kelly as chairman

The Pet Food Institute (PFI) announced the election of Bob Kelly as its new chairman of the board. Kelly, president of Bil-Jac Foods Inc., was elected by the board of directors at PFI’s 52nd Annual Industry Meeting on October 15. Prior to election as chairman, Kelly served as vice chairman of PFI.
“I am honored that my colleagues in the petfood industry elected me chairman of PFI,” said Kelly. “I look forward to a productive tenure as I serve as chairman of PFI, a great organization that represents an industry dedicated to ensuring that our pet cats and dogs live long healthy lives.”
Other officers elected at the PFI meeting include Dan Rajczak, senior vice president of P&G Pet Care, as vice chairman; Rick Shields, executive vice president for technical services of Menu Foods, as treasurer; and Neil Thompson, president and chief executive officer of Hill’s Pet Nutrition, as secretary.

PFI GRAS recommendations, speaker lineup

The following is a summary of the Pet Food Institute's (PFI) recommendations on self-affirmed generally recognized as safe ingredients (SA-GRAS). Geoffery Wong of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will present on this topic October 15 at the PFI Annual Industry Meeting.

1. FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) does not have the resources to review ingredients under both SA-GRAS and the Association of American Feed Control Official's (AAFCO) Ingredient Definition Committee (IDC). The firm seeking the approval should determine which way they want to submit.

2. A firm can make a determination that a particular use of a substance is GRAS and go to market. Or, notify FDA of its notification.

3. The scientific standard for a determination of GRAS requires the same quality and quantity of information in a food additive petition.

4. Proceeding with the AAFCO process has a lower data hurdle, in part because these ingredients are ones for which FDA does not have safety concerns.

5. If they notify FDA the result will be: Letter of no questionsLetter stating insufficient basisCVM does not support listing an ingredient that goes through the FDA-SA-GRAS process in the OP.If a state takes action against an ingredient that is the subject of a no questions letter and is listed on the Web site, FDA will not support the state challenge.

6. An ingredient the firm wants listed in the OP must go through the AAFCO-IDC process.

At the PFI Annual Industry Meeting, The Update Session, October 15, at 2 p.m., will feature:

*Ricky Schroeder, manager, Feed & Fertilizer Reg., Texas A&M University (AAFCO Perspectives)
*Bill Burkholder, petfood specialist, FDA, CVM (Current state of petfood regulations)
Geoffery Wong, supervisor, Ingredient Safety Team, FDA, CVM (More information on Self-Affirmed GRAS)

*Kim Young, deputy director, Division of Compliance, FDA, CVM (Reportable Food Registry)

*Kristin Schmitz, senior staff veterinarian, USDA, APHIS, VA, NCIE (Canadian Export Issues)