In a surprising move, the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) published in the Federal Register AAFCO’s copyright protected ingredient definitions. When FDA CVM wants something, it appears they will do anything, bully anyone to get what they want (including publishing someone else’s copyright protected information).
What FDA CVM wants is to be the sole agency approving pet food and animal feed ingredients, a task previously performed by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) with FDA CVM collaboration. The FDA CVM has officially ended their agreement with AAFCO and have announced their plans to take sole control of pet food/animal feed ingredients.
With the FDA’s announcement, a shocking surprise was released to the public. The FDA published in the Federal Register – available for anyone to download – all AAFCO’s pet food/animal feed ingredient definitions and feed terms. A document that was previously held ‘close to the vest’ by AAFCO, never allowed to be shared publicly. The AAFCO website still states this about their ingredient definitions:
“Copyright Notice: The AAFCO Official Publication is © 2023 The Association of American Feed Control Officials. All rights reserved. The Official Publication may not be reproduced, adapted, distributed, publicly performed, publicly displayed, transmitted, or broadcast, in whole or in part, without authorization or as allowed by law. It is strictly prohibited to use the Official Publication, in whole or in part, as training data for artificial intelligence purposes without authorization or as allowed by law.”
It appears FDA CVM ignored that Copyright Notice. FDA CVM has published all of AAFCO’s work with NO restrictions of copyright.
Pet owners can download all of this valuable information here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2024-D-2977-0003.
It could be that AAFCO released their treasured ingredient definitions to FDA CVM, however based on historical evidence, if AAFCO gave permission to FDA CVM to publish their ingredients – it was begrudgingly, under serious pressure from FDA CVM.
They get what they want, but we didn’t.
We never believed that ingredient definitions should be privately held, we expressed this belief to AAFCO and FDA on multiple occasions over the years. In 2017 we filed a Freedom of Information Act request with FDA CVM for the definitions. Two years later, the FDA denied our request stating: “we are denying a copyrighted document.”
In other words, when we wanted this information to be public to benefit pet owners – FDA refused. But when they wanted the definitions to solely control the future of pet food ingredients, it was perfectly acceptable to publish a copyrighted document.
Is this good or bad for pet owners?
With certainty, pet owners deserve to have public access to the legal definitions of ingredients in their pet’s food. This lengthy pdf document FDA CVM released is less than optimal for pet owners to search through, but it is better than keeping this information private and strictly controlled by AAFCO as it has been in the past. The previous system of ingredient approvals, definition process, ingredient names, and so on – was a very flawed system. It needed to be improved upon.
However…
…we are shocked at FDA CVM’s contentious behavior that simply took (stole?) AAFCO’s work. We take this as a concerning sign of future FDA CVM behavior.
What other plans does FDA CVM have for pet food that we won’t learn about until it is too late? What else will the agency do solely because they want it (not because it is best for our pets)? If FDA CVM can easily destroy AAFCO – an organization they have worked alongside of for decades – who is on their radar to destroy next?
The ONLY good thing of this, is that pet owners can now download a document to their computer and read the legal definition of ingredients used in their pet’s food. Unfortunately, there are so many questions of what’s next – it is difficult to enjoy this one good thing.
We (Association for Truth in Pet Food) will be submitting our comments to FDA on their formal announcement to take sole control over pet food/animal feed ingredients. We will share our comment when it is completed. Pet owners can read the FDA’s plans HERE by clicking on the two “Policy” items listed. As well, pet owners can provide comments to either or both policies.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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