The Food and Drug Administration announced a delay in the implementation of the final rule entitled, "Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed" or more commonly referred to as the 2008 BSE final rule.
The final rule, which would have gone into effect on April 27, 2009, is now delayed 60 days to June 26, 2009. The agency is taking this action in response to comments from affected parties expressing concerns about their ability to fully comply with the rule by the April 27, 2009 effective date. In addition, some affected parties are finding it difficult to identify appropriate alternate ways of disposing of material that may no longer be rendered for animal feed use once the rule takes effect.
The FDA is also providing seven days for public comment solely on the question of whether to delay the effective date. Comments must be submitted within 7 days of publication in the Federal Register of the notice of proposed delay of effective date.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) criticized FDA for only opening comments on the delay itself and and not on the enhanced feed ban. NCBA has been opposed to the enhanced feed ban since it was originally proposed in 2005 and continues to urge FDA to open the rule to public comment and delay implementation until they have had adequate time to consider the many problems caused by the ban. Follow this link to read their press release
For additional information from FDA, go to http://www.fda.gov/cvm/bsetoc.html.
