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International Cooperation for Convergence of Technical Requirements for the Assessment of Feed Ingredients (ICCF)

The International Cooperation for Convergence of Technical Requirements for the Assessment of Feed Ingredients (ICCF) aims to develop and establish common guidance that covers technical requirements for the assessment of feed ingredients, including new uses of existing feed ingredients.

In 2017, IFIF together with regulatory authorities and feed and feed ingredient associations from Canada, the European Union and the United States launched 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 feed ingredients, including new uses of existing feed ingredients.

The founding members of the ICCF 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).

So far the ICCF has published 7 guidance documents that can be accessed here: https://iccffeed.org/guidance/. These include:

 

  1. Stability Testing of Feed Ingredients – March 2019
  2. Sub-chronic Oral Toxicity Testing in Laboratory Animals– March 2019
  3. Homogeneity Testing of Feed Ingredients – September 2020
  4. Manufacturing Process and Specification – June 2021
  5. Genotoxicity Testing of Feed Ingredients – April 2021
  6. Feed Ingredients Environmental Risk Assessment Approach – September 2023
  7. Identification and Characterization of Feed Ingredients – September 2023

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.

The ICCF should 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 estbalishing and overseeing the 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 2013 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 visit https://iccffeed.org/ or contact the ICCF Secretariat at secretariat@iccffeed.org.