Contact your local congress representative to voice your concerns about the act.

For more than 110 years, the independent Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has safeguarded animal and human health. Operating in every state in cooperation with state agricultural agencies, our members:

  • Guide state, federal and international regulations pertaining to pet food and animal feed
  • Develop everything from ingredient definitions to label and lab standards
  • Personally inspect products to keep the industry compliant and animals safe

Our mission is now at risk due to language in the PURR Act of 2025.

Currently under consideration in Congress, the PURR Act would establish the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) as the sole regulatory authority over pet food for dogs and cats, a role for which it has neither the infrastructure or funding needed to keep our pets safe. 

  1. While we understand the appetite for standardized regulations across the United States, the truth is that regulations are best enforced at the local level with boots on the ground. And since AAFCO has been the leading voice in standardizing regulations nationwide for over 110 years, the regulatory situation today is far more consistent and coherent than the bill would suggest.
  2. Some advocates highlight that existing regulations treat pet food as animal feed, as if that were a bad thing. It would be a mistake to assume that America’s livestock producers are anything less than demanding about the quality and safety of feed, or to assume that they have not leveraged their substantial economic power to ensure regulations will safeguard the health of their animals.
  3. The final argument you may hear in favor of the PURR Act is that it will expedite the process for introducing novel feed ingredients into pet food, but there is another act under consideration by Congress that already addresses this need (see below)!

Help us advocate for a better bill. Contact your local congress representative to voice your concerns about the act.

The Innovative Feed Act expands the FDA’s power without risking pet safety.

The Innovative Feed Act is a bipartisan bill aimed at expanding the powers of the FDA’s Food Additive Petition Process to review and approve innovative animal feed and pet food additives. The Food Additive Petition Process is an efficient process that still maintains the highest standards of scientific rigor, making it possible to provide America’s feed and pet food manufacturers with much-deserved access to innovative and cutting-edge ingredients.

How can you help?

Please join us in reaching out to our representatives in Congress to ensure they hear the other side of the story and understand what is at risk if they do not modify the language of the PURR Act. AAFCO is not opposed to a federal regulatory body overseeing pet food, provided we are allowed to continue our mission of supporting and enforcing those regulations nationwide.