{"topic_id":"AAFCO_2017_midyear_key_definitions","category":"aafco","context":"---\ntopic_id: AAFCO_2017_midyear_key_definitions\ncategory: aafco\ntitle: AAFCO 2017 Midyear (Mobile, AL, January 2017) — Human Grade, Tracer, FSMA Feed(s) harmonization\nlang: en\nsource: aafco_2017_midyear_committee_reports.pdf\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-19\ntokens_estimated: 430\nverification: {method: tavily_extract_chunk, claims: 7, passed: pending_tsv, date: 2026-07-19}\n---\n\n> **Status: pending full verification.** Content retrieved via Tavily\n> chunk extraction from the AAFCO-hosted PDF. Will be re-verified by\n> `pdftotext -tsv` machine-parsed substring matching once the local PDF\n> is downloaded (currently blocked — `www.aafco.org` direct fetch fails,\n> Tavily proxy succeeded). Treat numeric statements as draft until\n> `verification.passed=true`.\n\nThe AAFCO 2017 Midyear Meeting (Mobile, AL, January 2017) produced a\nsignificant batch of pet-food-relevant ingredient terminology updates.\nThree top-of-stack items, all adopted during this meeting:\n\n1. **Human Grade (new Official Feed Term)** — adopted via IDC\n   recommendation; definition reads: \"Every ingredient and the resulting\n   product are stored, handled, processed, and transported in a manner\n   that is consistent and compliant with regulations for current good\n   manufacturing practices (cGMPs) for human edible foods as specified\n   in 21 CFR Part 117.\" Publication was sequenced to follow the natural\n   claims guideline (Pet Food Committee explicitly conditioned\n   publication on prior Human Grade acceptance). The Human Grade Working\n   Group was disbanded immediately after adoption (moved by Charlotte\n   Conway / FDA-CVM; seconded George Ferguson / NC).\n\n2. **Tracer (new Official Feed Term)** — new definition: \"A harmless\n   substance present at insignificant levels in an animal food to assure\n   the presence of and thorough mixing of a component (ingredient /\n   premix) of that food.\" Establishes the regulatory basis for marker\n   substances used in homogenization verification.\n\n3. **Feed(s) / Animal Food FSMA harmonization** — new Official Feed Term\n   \"Animal Food\" recommended; caveat: Specialty Pet Food intentionally\n   excluded because FSMA itself does not cover specialty pets.\n\nEleven tentative definitions were moved to Official, including T6.17\nL-Methionine, T54.33 Bovine Colostrum, T54.34 Dried Bovine Colostrum,\nT57.165 Zinc Hydroxychloride, T71.30 Mustard Meal Solvent Extracted,\nT73.300/301 Sodium/Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids, T87.29 Yucca\nschidigera extract, T93.9 Wheat Gluten, T96.13 Molasses Hydrolyzed\nYeast, and T27.9 Deoiled corn distillers dried grains with solubles.\nNew tentatives: T6.12 Taurine extended to \"fish\" use (FDA-CVM\nclarified shrimp excluded), T33.25 Stearic Acid, T33.26 Palmitic Acid,\nT73.400 Iron Nickel Tracer, 73.026 Feed Grade Sodium Formate.\n\nSource: AAFCO 2017 Midyear Committee Reports (PDF hosted at\nhttps://www.aafco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2017_Midyear_Committee_Reports_book_with_cover.pdf)\nretrieved via Tavily Extract 2026-07-19. Direct curl from this host\ntimes out; verification pending via `pdftotext -tsv` once alternative\nfetch path is set up.\n","sources":["https://www.aafco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2017_Midyear_Committee_Reports_book_with_cover.pdf","21 CFR Part 117 (FDA cGMP for human food)"],"tokens_estimated":620,"generated_at":"2026-07-19","tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}