FDA still hasn’t finished pet food rules Congress ordered in 2007

A long-running pet food regulatory deadline is back in the spotlight after Truth about Pet Food argued that FDA still has not finished work Congress ordered nearly two decades ago. The core claim checks out: under Section 1002 of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, FDA was directed to establish, by September 27, 2009, pet food ingredient standards and definitions, processing standards, and updated labeling standards that include nutritional and ingredient information. FDA publicly acknowledged that assignment in 2008, and its own implementation chart still points back to that 2009 due date. (govinfo.gov)

The mandate came directly out of the 2007 melamine-linked pet food crisis, which exposed weaknesses in ingredient oversight, supply-chain visibility, and consumer information. In April 2008, FDA published a Federal Register notice seeking stakeholder input from AAFCO, veterinary medical associations, animal health organizations, pet food manufacturers, and the public on how to build those new standards. That process clearly started. What did not follow was a completed federal rulemaking package that fully delivered the ingredient, processing, and labeling framework Congress envisioned. (govinfo.gov)

Instead, pet food regulation developed in pieces. FDA built out recall reporting and complaint systems, and later implemented broader animal food safety requirements under the Food Safety Modernization Act, including preventive controls for animal food. At the same time, AAFCO and state feed regulators continued to do much of the practical work on ingredient definitions and label conventions. AAFCO launched its Pet Food Label Modernization project in 2015, and membership later approved what it described as the largest update to pet food and specialty pet food packaging in more than 40 years. (fda.gov)

That helps explain why the regulatory picture can seem contradictory. On paper, Congress required FDA-led regulations by 2009. In practice, the marketplace has continued operating through a hybrid system: federal safety oversight, state enforcement, AAFCO model rules, and claim-by-claim FDA review in certain areas. FDA says it reviews some pet food claims, such as urinary tract health or hairball control claims, while AAFCO’s updated labeling guide now reflects modernization work already moving through the states. Industry groups, meanwhile, have warned that uneven state adoption and interpretation could create new complexity even when modernization is broadly supported. (fda.gov)

Industry reaction around adjacent regulatory issues suggests the same underlying tension: companies want clearer legal pathways, but they also want consistency. PetfoodIndustry recently reported that the proposed Animal Health Supplement Act is meant to give supplements a defined statutory category rather than leaving them under enforcement discretion, though that bill does not apply to pet food itself. Separately, the Pet Food Institute has said manufacturers generally support label modernization, while also expressing concern about timing and uniformity across states. Those comments reinforce the broader complaint behind the Truth about Pet Food story: the legal architecture for animal food categories and claims is still evolving, and not always in a tidy federal-first way. (petfoodindustry.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is ultimately a clinical communication issue as much as a regulatory one. When veterinarians counsel pet parents on diet selection, adverse event concerns, ingredient questions, or the meaning of front-of-pack claims, they’re working within a system that has modernized unevenly. FSMA strengthened food safety controls, and AAFCO’s label updates may improve readability and consistency over time, but the federal rulemaking Congress originally ordered remains incomplete. That leaves space for confusion around ingredient terminology, nutritional presentation, and the line between food, supplement, and drug-like claims. (fda.gov)

There’s also a governance angle worth watching. FDA’s longstanding memorandum of understanding with AAFCO expired on October 1, 2024, and the agency has since been reevaluating its premarket animal food review programs. In January 2025, FDA finalized Guidance for Industry #294 on Animal Food Ingredient Consultation, part of a broader effort to rethink how new animal food ingredients reach market. That doesn’t answer the old 2009 congressional mandate by itself, but it does show FDA is revisiting some of the same structural issues from a different direction. (fda.gov)

What to watch: The next signal will be whether FDA turns its current ingredient-program overhaul into broader rulemaking, and whether AAFCO’s label modernization gains consistent state adoption, giving veterinarians and pet parents a clearer, more uniform pet food framework than the one Congress first demanded in 2007. (fda.gov)