Animal Health

Dry pet food.

In May 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposed rescinding portions of its December 2024 rule that had established new organic certification standards for pet food under the National Organic Program (NOP). The 2024 rule had introduced long-anticipated regulatory clarity around allowable ingredients, certification consistency, and production standards for organic pet food. With USDA now proposing to withdraw these standards, organic pet food producers may once again face regulatory ambiguity regarding formulation, ingredient eligibility, certification, and labeling. While no final decision has yet been made, the public comment period closed on June 11, 2025, garnering nearly 10,000 comments from interested stakeholders. The commentary below provides a brief summary of what has occurred thus far in the pet food industry surrounding this issue to provide a better understanding of the impact of USDA’s proposed withdrawal of organic pet food standards.

Showcase meat raw products in a supermarket

On August 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released an updated guidance document regarding the substantiation of all animal-raising and environment-related claims on meat and poultry packaging. This new guidance marks the first update regarding these types of claims since 2019. The guidance provides establishments with information on how to use and substantiate…

The winding path of Ag Gag legislation in Iowa has become significantly straighter in 2024. First, in January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed lower court rulings that blocked Iowa state laws seeking to prohibit the use of deceptive practices to gain entry to livestock facilities. The lower court rulings were…

We are approximately nine months into FDA’s animal feed and pet food facility inspections for compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Preventive Controls for Animal Food (PC) rule. With PC inspections starting for small businesses this Fall, there are a few lessons we have learned from the inspections that have occurred to date.