To be compliant with federal law, an ingredient added to food (including pet food) must be approved by FDA for its intended use as a food additive if the ingredient has not been determined generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for its intended use by experts in the field of food safety. Once the safety testing data is complete, food additive approvals can take 2-4 years; whereas a GRAS determination may only take six months for the same ingredient. FDA recently released its Final Rule on the information and format necessary when informing FDA that a conclusion of GRAS status has been completed. The requirements for publication of information, which were previously thought to be corroborative in the determination of safety, suggests significant changes in how FDA now evaluates GRAS status.
Come see Dr. Ray Matulka speak on “The FDA GRAS Final Rule: Impacts on getting safe ingredients into pet food” from 3:50-4:30 PM on Tuesday, April 4th (Room 2105). The presentation will discuss how to plan your strategic research and development of a potential new pet food ingredient, as well as the critical portions of a dossier describing the safety information supporting GRAS status.
Registration for Petfood Forum is still available: https://www.petfoodforumevents.com/