On October 29, 2013 (the “Publication Date”), the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) published in the Federal Register its latest set of proposed regulations implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (“FSMA”). The current proposed regulations will apply to the animal food industry, including food for livestock, pets, raw materials and ingredients therewith. Animal food companies must act quickly to provide comment to the FDA if they hope to have input into the final rules with which they will be required to comply. Additionally, the proposed requirements of these rules may require significant inhouse changes to how animal food companies do business.

As with the previous proposed regulations under the FSMA, the FDA is once again decidedly focused on preventative efforts. The FSMA was signed into law on January 4, 2011, and it is the most comprehensive effort to reform U.S. food-safety and security laws in more than seventy years. Brought on by an increase in outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, the FSMA puts the federal government in a proactive stance rather than its typical reactive one. The federal government’s focus has now shifted from responding to food contamination crises to affirmatively taking proactive action to prevent them.