Legislation: Feeds, Pet Food Bill out for comment

Comment is sought within 60 days on a draft Feeds and Pet Food Bill among other things providing for the regulation of ingredients used in manufacturing all the products concerned and the registration and licensing of related facilities. This, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch, is noting the importance of safe food not only for ‘companion animals’ but also for those ‘intended for human consumption’. A ‘traceability system’ is deemed necessary in that context. The proposed new statute also provides for the appointment of a registrar, advisory committees, auditors and inspectors.

Against that backdrop, the draft Bill deals with: prohibitions and product requirements; imports and exports; registration and licensing requirements and procedures; access to information; monitoring, auditing, records and returns; the functions and powers of inspectors; and penalties for non-compliance. It is envisaged that matters on which the Minister may make regulations should include: feed or pet food additives containing veterinary medicines or stock remedies; foreign supplier verification; packaging, labelling and advertising; and product recall.

The term ‘animal’ is defined in the draft Bill as: ‘any mammal, bird, fish, reptile or amphibian that is a member of the phylum vertebrates, or any member of the phylum mollusca, phylum crustacea and phylum echinodermata’. For the uninitiated, a starfish is one of the marine creatures classified as an ‘echinodermate’. A ‘companion animal’ is deemed to mean a creature belonging to ‘a species that is domesticated or domestic-bred and normally kept as a companion to humans’. The term ‘normally’ is not defined.

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