FDA tackles concerns over proposed spent-grains rule

When the FDA issued a proposed rule that would introduce new food-safety requirements on breweries and distilleries that supply the by-product feeds, manufacturers and cattle producers expressed their concerns.

The comment period on the proposed rule, titled “Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals,” closed on March 31, and since then, FDA has worked to clarify the implications for feeding brewers’ and distillers’ grains.

The proposed rule intends to improve the safety of animal food, including pet food and animal feed, by requiring animal-food facilities to take preventive steps to ensure their products are safe, as a means to help prevent foodborne illness in both animals and people.

The recently released Q&A document, FDA indicates an understanding that potential hazards associated with spent grains are minimal.  The agency also notes that the current proposal would require brewers or distillers who sell their spent grains to farmers for use as animal food would need to follow current good manufacturing practice regulations (cGMPs). They also note that breweries and distillery operations making a beverage or product for human consumption are already subject to human food cGMPs, and as a result should already be familiar with these practices.