FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine Animal Feed Update
In August 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced that its longstanding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) would expire on October 1, 2024. Via this MoU, FDA provided scientific and technical assistance to AAFCO to support its ingredient definition request process.
In January 2025, after the expiration of the MoU, FDA published its finalized CVM GFI #294 - Animal Food Ingredient Consultation (AFIC). Via this Consultation, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) gives FDA the authority to regulate substances used in animal food, including substances generally recognized as safe (GRAS) such as food additives and substances. FDA is evaluating its animal Food Additive Petition and GRAS Notification programs to determine if changes are needed to promote the efficient development and review of new animal food ingredients.
AFIC may also provide a pathway for cultivated meat to be included in animal feed because the feed ingredients to be revised include sources of protein. This pathway may allow companies like UK-based Meatly - that just debuted its cultivated chicken in hybrid dog treats made by vegan pet food startup The Pack – to gain regulatory approval to sells its cultivated pet food in the US. Another company that may seek to launch their pet treats made out of cultivated meat in the U.S. is Czech Bene Meat Technologies which last year presented its cultivated pet food for cats and dogs at the latest Interzoo trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany.
The FDA issued its final guidance to allow animal feed and pet food manufacturers to continue using ingredients published in the 2024 Official Publication (OP) for products sold in interstate commerce. FDA is not aware of any safety concerns regarding ingredients listed in the 2024 OP that are not approved food additives or GRAS and that FDA did not review as part of the AAFCO. Thus, as of now, FDA does not see the need to request that an ingredient be withdrawn from the OP and many ingredients have a long history of use in animal food.