According to Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), the organization supports the legislation introduced to stop the FDA from making it harder to use beer by-products in animal feed.

“We need to keep the brew in the moo on our farms, and this legislation is a signal that the FDA needs to rethink the regulation that it is pursuing.”

He said there is no public heath risk associated with the long-standing practice of using brewers’ grains as animal feed.

This proposed FDA regulations would increase costs to dairy farmers. Mulhern said farmers have been using high-protein brewers’ grains in livestock feed for hundreds of years.

“Last fall, the FDA suggested imposing stricter requirements for handling spent grains sold or donated to farmers as part of new feed regulations proposed under the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act. The changes would require spent grains to be dried and packaged, before being passed on to farmers. Typically, farmers now receive wet grains, which help hydrate livestock.”

“Both the beer industry and agricultural groups, including NMPF, object to the planned changes, and we are encouraged that the FDA has said recently it will review its draft language. In the meantime, we support the legislative approach offered by Reps. Steve Womack (R-AR), Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT), Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) to highlight the importance of this issue.”