We were notified by AAFCO, the organization has done something specifically for consumers. AAFCO has dramatically lowered the cost to attend meetings for consumers.
Cost to attend an AAFCO Meeting for Industry: $575.00
Cost to attend an AAFCO Meeting for Consumers: $250.00
This is something we have asked AAFCO for – for years. And finally, they listened. But…is it too late?
AAFCO – Association of American Feed Control Officials – is an organization of State Feed Control Officials, employees of state governments. The Feed Official members of AAFCO have for more than 100 years written (state) laws that govern pet food and animal feed, including nutritional requirements (nutrient profiles), labeling laws and animal feed/food ingredient approvals.
The laws written by AAFCO are adopted by US states, but not all states. Which has resulted in haphazard state regulation of pet foods/animal feeds. As example: one US state will allow a particular ingredient in a pet food, another state will not. One state strictly scrutinizes information on a pet food label, another state doesn’t even review the label.
And AAFCO has for years continued to ignore pet food consumers, knowingly treating consumers and consumer representatives poorly while at the same time providing industry representatives with ‘best friend’ status – to have almost free reign to anything they wanted.
AAFCO was well aware of these issues for decades, but continued to do their work the same way they always had. They appeared to care less that the world around them was changing, standing their ground that the ‘old ways’ of AAFCO were going to stay the same.
And then…AAFCO’s best friends (industry) took actions that could lead to the demise of the organization. The Pet Food Institute (the trade association representing the largest pet food manufacturers) introduced a bill in Congress that would completely eliminate state regulation of pet food. The bill – the PURR Act – which includes NO benefits for consumers, is currently sitting in Congress. AAFCO’s future is waiting to be voted on…completely out of their control.
Is AAFCO scrambling to survive by finally doing something to benefit consumers? OR has AAFCO come to the realization that their actions should take into consideration the largest stakeholder of pet food (consumers)? Did AAFCO realize that consumers are not so bad after all?
Personal opinion: regardless to why, it is a great thing that AAFCO lowered the cost to attend a meeting for pet owners. My thanks to AAFCO for taking this action.
More personal opinion: We (pet owners) absolutely need state regulation of pet food. A future of FDA’s sole regulation of pet food is concerning (to say the least). I encourage all pet owners to contact their Governor and State Representatives and encourage them to continue state regulation of pet foods and animal feeds.
For any pet owner that wants to attend, the next AAFCO meeting is January 21 – 23, 2025 in Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, Click Here.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
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