FDA: Stricter rule on livestock feed ingredients

A stricter rule on livestock feed ingredients aimed at preventing mad cow disease will take effect next week, but cattle producers and other groups will have six months to comply, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.

The new rule is designed to keep the livestock feed system free of cattle parts at greatest risk for spreading bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

The industry has until Oct. 26, 2009 to comply. FDA said it wanted to give renderers more time to comply and give other groups, such as cattle producers and packers, time to find other ways to dispose of prohibited material no longer allowed in animal feed.

A year ago, the FDA published the new feed rule and said it would take effect on April 27, 2009. But the agency said many in the meat industry had not yet made changes to comply.

This month, FDA proposed delaying the April 27 deadline by 60 days, and opened the plan to public comment. More than 400 organizations and individuals, including cattle producers, renderers, meat processors and state agriculture agencies replied.

The agency said it opted to keep the April 27 start date to show "the agency's clear intent to move forward" on the measure, but acknowledged not everyone was ready for the change.

"It is apparent from the comments that a significant number of other stakeholders will not be ready to deal effectively with the new regulation when it goes into effect on April 27, 2009," the FDA said.

Three cases of mad cow disease have been reported in the United States since December 2003. The most recent was 2006.

Since 1997, the United States has barred the use of high-risk cattle parts in feed prepared for ruminant animals, which include cattle. The new rule expands the ban to prohibit the material from all livestock feed.

They include the brains and spinal cords from cattle that are 30 months or older, entire carcass of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption that are 30 months of age or older from which brains and spinal cords were not removed, and carcasses of cattle infected with mad cow disease.

Many renderers have discontinued services ahead of the ban, and the rule will make it harder for cattle producers to find ways to dispose of carcasses, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said.

"This decision is extremely disappointing," said Elizabeth Parker, NCBA's chief veterinarian. "By going ahead with implementation of this unnecessary ban, the FDA is ignoring the substantial costs and environmental burdens it imposes on America's cattle producers."

Parker said the October compliance date amounted to nothing more than "an empty gesture" as there is still no solution to help producers cope with the increased costs and disposal issues.