Brussels, Belgium – Regulatory authorities and feed and feed ingredient
associations from Canada, the European Union and the United States met in Brussels in
May to launch the International Cooperation for Convergence of Technical Requirements
for the Assessment of Feed Ingredients (ICCF). This important international cooperation
aims to develop and establish common guidance that covers technical requirements for
the assessment of new feed ingredients, including new uses of existing feed ingredients.
Founding ICCF members include the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the
European Commission (DG SANTE), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well
as the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the Animal Nutrition Association of
Canada (ANAC), the EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures
(FEFANA) and the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF).
ICCF Chair Melissa Dumont highlighted the importance of this initiative, saying “the ICCF
is the result of a concerted effort to bring together feed regulators and industry feed
associations to work together to develop common guidance documents for technical
requirements needed in the assessment of feed ingredients. This will benefit not only the
three regions covered, as the guidance documents will be made available for reference
and use by other jurisdictions around the globe.”
Dumont added, “this initiative will also help to facilitate free and fair trade of feed
ingredients as well as support the feed and food chain as it works to safely and
sustainably meet the global growing demand for animal protein.”
The ICCF Steering Committee, made up of representatives from the founding members of
the ICCF, is responsible for defining the priorities and activities of the project and will
establish the first Expert Working Groups, which will be tasked with developing specific
technical guidance documents. As this initiative develops, observer countries will be
invited to join the expert groups and may be invited as non-voting members to the ICCF
Steering Committee on an ad-hoc basis.
The ICCF builds on the work of the IFIF “Comparison of Regulatory Management of
Authorized Ingredients, Approval Processes, and Risk-Assessment Procedures for Feed
Ingredients” report which covered synergies and gaps for product approvals in Brazil,
Canada, China, EU, Japan, South Africa and USA. This report was drafted based on expert
input and supported by government feed regulators and feed and feed ingredients
associations in the seven regions covered.
For further information about the ICCF please contact the ICCF Secretariat at
info@ifif.org.