AVMA Urges Pet Food Makers to List Calories on Packaging

AVMA urges pet food makers to list calories

Future pet food labels that indicate the number of calories per serving could help obese pets shed extra pounds, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has recommended to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “Pet owners do not always know how much to feed. They may not realize the high number of calories associated with some of the petfood,” said John Branam, testifying on behalf of the AVMA.

The FDA held the hearing last week as part of legislation last year requiring the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to establish pet food labeling standards in two years. According to the AVMA, 54 million pets in the US are obese, an “epidemic” that the association says is growing at an alarming rate.

But Nancy Cook, vice president of the Pet Food Institute’s technical and regulatory affairs, said calorie labels are unnecessary and won’t prevent obesity in pets. Many petfood labels already contain serving sizes based on a pet’s size. Calorie information can be obtained from food manufacturers, Cook also said.

But the AVMA said it’s not the jobs of consumers and veterinarians to track down pet food manufacturers for that information. A standard nutritional label that lists the number of calories per weight of food and per household items such as a can or a cup would prevent owners from overfeeding their pets, the AVMA said. The information also would help consumers and veterinarians compare and choose the best food product, Branam said. For example, two cups of one product could have the same calories as one cup of another product.

FDA May Discuss new Pet Food Labeling Requirements

Speak now or pay later

As of the time of this writing, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to issue an official Federal Register notice specifying the date and agenda of the public meeting to discuss the impact of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 on the promulgation of new federal petfood labeling requirements.

Many in the public and industry are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hear FDA’s plans and/or comment on this matter. In the interim, however, FDA has recently published two notices in the Federal Register where it has requested public input regarding related matters: its Food Protection Plan (FPP) (Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0188); and third-party certification programs for foods and feeds (Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0183). These notices may be viewed at http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E8-6833.pdf and http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E8-6705.pdf, respectively.

Food Protection Plan
FDA’s plan for protecting the nation’s food supply was released in November of 2007 and can be viewed in full at http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan.html. Briefly, it is described as a comprehensive strategy to help protect the food supply from both unintentional contamination and deliberate attack. The three major components of the plan are to facilitate improvements in prevention, intervention and response.

For each component, the document details the steps needed to implement its objectives in improving food protection, including proposals for new legislation to provide FDA with greater authorities. For example, to aid FDA in responding to contamination incidents, it asks the US Congress for powers to issue mandatory recalls when necessary and to enhance access to company records during emergencies.

Obviously this applies to all sorts of food, but the affects on pet food safety cannot be overstated. While the document tends to discuss the issue in terms of the human food supply, it is clear to note that the FPP is also intended to apply to animal feeds. FDA understands that ensuring the safety of feeds for food-producing animals has a direct impact on the safety of the final food product derived from those animals, and hence must be an integral part of any viable plan.

This understanding is evidenced by the recent assignment of Dr. Stephen Sundlof as FDA’s Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (which oversees human food safety issues for the agency). As a veterinarian, a toxicologist and the long-time former Director of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Sundlof is uniquely qualified to help lead the agency in both food and feed safety matters. Petfoods are not forgotten in the FPP, either. Last year’s petfood recall due to contamination with melamine and related compounds is discussed several times within the document as an example of where oversight of the food supply needs fixing.

Third-party certification programs
In its efforts to ensure safety of foods and feeds, FDA inspection personnel simply cannot be everywhere, especially with regard to imported products. One of the proposals within the FPP, but discussed more thoroughly in the second notice, is the possibility for FDA to accredit (or recognize entities that accredit) third parties to conduct inspections and evaluate products and facilities to ensure compliance with FDA requirements. Such third parties could include other federal agencies, state and foreign governments and private companies.

See the rest of this article: Pet Food Labeling Requirements