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Beer Institute says FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million

April 14, 2014Keith Gribbins

cattle eating
Big Beer brands can sell their mash on the market, while the craft guys often just give it away because they don’t make enough, but that all could soon be changing.

Here’s your weekly dose of Monday morning feed talk, folks. Last Monday, we discussed the Brewers Association calling on Congress to reevaluate parts of the FDA’s proposed Food Safety Modernization Act. Back in October 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) proposed a rule to establish best practices for manufacturing animal feed. Under these new definitions, craft breweries which kindly donate or even sell spent barely would be labeled as animal feed manufacturers and be regulated as such by the FDA.

Well, the Beer Institute has also been lobbying against the act, more than a year with members of Congress, regulators and allied organizations from dairy farmers to agriculture scientists in order to present a strong economic and scientific argument proving that it is completely unnecessary for the FDA to add additional regulation to brewers’ spent grain. The beer makers association (which represents the entire $246 billion beer industry) said in this recent press release that the result of this legislation would force brewers “to throw away this valuable feed, a cheaper option than complying with the costly proposed regulations, which the Beer Institute estimates may cost a single brewery more than $13 million in one-time and reoccurring costs.” It should be noted the association did not say what size brewery that would be (maybe more like the size of Coors instead of Caldera Brewing Co.).

On March 31, the Beer Institute filed joint comments with the American Malting Barley Association in order to protect the centuries-old and environmentally-conscious practice of brewers marketing their brewers’ grain to local animal producers. (View the AMBA’s comments.)

“This regulation is onerous and expensive, but really it’s just unnecessary,” said Chris Thorne, the Beer Institute vice president of communications, in the same press release. “There has never been a single reported negative incidence with spent grain. We have had very positive conversations with the FDA and other concerned stakeholders making us cautiously optimistic.”

These comments were filed in response to the FDA’s proposed rule on “Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals” under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) [Docket No.: FDA-2011-N-0922] RIN: 0910-AG10.

Here are the recommended malting barley varieties for American growers in 2023 with two new additions
The CO2 Shortage: Nitrogen as an alternative for CO2 in the brewhouse + nitrogen generators
The CO2 Shortage: Brewers can produce carbon dioxide onsite with CO2 recapture or direct capture
The CO2 Shortage: Tips for efficiently using CO2 in a craft brewery

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ember Beer Co. Craft Brewery - Manlius, NY says

    April 15, 2014 at 5:37 am

    Ember Beer Co. Craft Brewery – Manlius, NY liked this on Facebook.

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  2. brookbristow says

    April 14, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    Probably moot since the FDA will revise it, but BI says the spent grain rule could’ve cost a lot. http://t.co/hZl3pGwHhp #craftbeer

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  3. Brewery Insurance Program says

    April 14, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    Brewery Insurance Program liked this on Facebook.

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  4. STFU77 says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:57 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: [email protected] says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/7YrvmkNK0m

    Log in to Reply
  5. IntuitionAle says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:54 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: [email protected] says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/7YrvmkNK0m

    Log in to Reply
  6. crsimp01 says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Beer Institute says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/tDOcXwXnid via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply
  7. BrewersLaw says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:30 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: [email protected] says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/7YrvmkNK0m

    Log in to Reply
  8. BrewerLongPLLC says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:30 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: [email protected] says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/7YrvmkNK0m

    Log in to Reply
  9. brewerslawsarah says

    April 14, 2014 at 11:29 am

    W/ FDA bill, “Modernize” = waste good product. The proposed #grainbill gets a 2nd look. #thankgoodness #beer #reuse
    http://t.co/LtrssWvq0J

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  10. ThisYearsBrew says

    April 14, 2014 at 10:35 am

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: [email protected] says costly FDA animal feed regulation could cost a brewery $13 million http://t.co/7YrvmkNK0m

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