WASHINGTON D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance to help animal producers ensure the safety of animal feed used on the farm. This guidance does not establish legally enforceable responsibilities.

The FDA is accepting public comments right now. To view the document, go to http://1.usa.gov/19pBKzV

This identifies steps animal producers can take to identify and prevent feed contaminants that are sometimes present on farms, and which could jeopardize the health of farm animals and human food derived from those animals, said Dan McChesney.

"This guidance was developed to address some of the on-farm issues we see on the farm and to help the person who was using the feed to use it safely," said McChesney, director of the office of surveillance and compliance at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Farmers may already be using the safety precautions suggested guidelines. "We expect them to read through the guidelines and say ‘I occasionally do that, but I don’t always do this.’"

Richard Sellers, senior vice president of the American Feed Industry Assoc. (AFIA), was concerned the AFIA had not had a chance to offer input into the guidelines. The feed industry is constantly in contact with customers to market and develop products, he said. It was a bit of a disconnect that no one contacted AFIA to discuss this before, during or after the drafting of the guidance document, he said.

AFIA was concerned the document makes no mention of feed safety programs, such as AFIA’s certification program.

"In the past, when FDA issued a warning letter on illegal drug residues in meat, milk or eggs, the agency would mention the quality assurance program of the species in which the residue was found," Sellers said. "We are unsure why this was discontinued."

Also, the agency said nothing about contacting the feed supplier in the event of a problem, he explained. This should be the first avenue of contact. Filing a complaint with the FDA frequently results in an inspection, which could be unnecessary.

"If there are no reports to the feed firm, how can a reportable food report be filed?" Sellers said. "The feed facility always conducts an investigation when such a complaint is received by the firm from a customer."

McChesney agreed with Sellers and said neglecting to mention the producer contacting the feed manufacturer first it was simply an omission in the guidance.

To submit comments electronically go to www.regulations.gov and type FDA-2014-D-1180 into the search box.

To submit comments by mail, use this address – be sure to include the docket number FDA-2014-D-1180 on each page of the written comments: The Division of Dockets Management, HFA-305, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.