FDA opens livestock feed-safety portal

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has opened a new online service for consumers, producers and veterinarians to report problems with livestock feed.

The alert system, the Livestock Food Reporting portal, will send the reports directly to the FDA.

FDA spokesman Juli Putnam said that although the FDA does not receive many complaints about feed for livestock animals, the tool is designed to harmonize reporting to federal agencies in case a problem does arise.

“The safety reporting portal provides anyone with internet access the ability to report a safety concern about medical products as well as foods, cosmetics, animal feed, pet food and veterinary products,” she said in an email.

The portal is aimed at producers who raise horses, cattle, swine, poultry and fish. Reports are urged if there is a problem with a feed product, such as a defect that could potentially harm animals, or an animal has an adverse reaction to feed.

Before the website, the only way to file a complaint was by telephone.

Despite the website’s easy accessibility, Buddy Guyot, manager of the Beebe Sale Barn, said that he would contact the Arkansas State Plant Board if any problems were to arise.

“They inspect all my feed. They check the ingredients, tag and weigh it,” Guyot said. “If I had a problem I would call them.”

While officials with the Arkansas State Plant Board said the only issues they see are fairly routine, having a tool the general public can use could prevent a disease from spreading.

“Anything that can be done and the faster it is known about could help prevent a major tragedy,” said Jamey Johnson, director of the feed and fertilizer division at the Plant Board. “The faster the news gets out, the sooner a solution can be rectified.”

Johnson said his only concern is that people don’t know about the new filing procedure.

“I’m sure the general public doesn’t know about it and because of that I think if there was a problem [in the state] we would get a call first,” he said.

Business, Pages 26 on 03/26/2014

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