The Safe Animal Feed Education (SAFE) program has devoted resources to educate industry members on proper labeling practices for commercial livestock feed including providing educational label consultation upon request, and publishing the California Commercial Feed Labeling Guide, Label Review Checklist, and Medicated Feed Label Guide.
However, there will always be questions and nuances regarding feed labeling. On a quarterly basis, SAFE will share a few tips to address various label questions and bring awareness to proper labeling practices. This quarter, we are focused on proper nomenclature of ingredients used in the listing of ingredients.
Did you know?
- ‘Distillers Dried Grains’ is not an official recognized ingredient name under the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
The proper nomenclature is __________ Distillers Dried Grains, where the predominated grain shall be declared as the first word in the name, such as ‘Corn Distillers Dried Grains’. This also applies to Distillers Dried Solubles, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, Condensed Distillers Solubles, and Distillers Wet Grains.
- Collective Terms are not allowed in California.
The only collective term accepted on feed labels in California is ‘grains’. The term ‘roughage products’ may be used only in labeling medicated, mineral, and vitamin premixes if the labeled recommended use level of the premix in the total ration is 1 percent or less of the total ration.
- The proper nomenclature for enzymes does not include the enzyme name.
For enzymes obtained from microorganisms, ingredient names shall use one of the applicable AAFCO definitions (Dried ________Fermentation Extract, Dried ______Fermentation Solubles, Dried _______Fermentation Product, or Liquid _______Fermentation Product) using the source organism that produced the specific enzyme. For example, the name Dried Aspergillus niger Fermentation Extract may be used for dry alpha-amylase. For enzymes obtained from plant or animals, ingredient names shall use an appropriate common or usual name that accurately describes the ingredient source organism. For example, ‘dried pineapple stem’ may be used for bromelain, and ‘fig extract’ may be used for ficin. All recognized source organisms are listed in the AAFCO Official Publication. View the AAFCO OP official names and definitions here: https://www.aafco.org/resources/official-publication/.