Animal Feed Definitions

• Commercial Feed
• Initial Distributor
• Label
• Pet Food
• Renderers
• Responsible Buyer
• Specialty Pet Food

Commercial Feed:

Means all materials or combinations of materials that are distributed or intended for distribution for use as feed or for mixing in feed, unless such materials are specifically exempted. The following commodities are exempted and are not considered "commercial feed" if they are not adulterated (see RCW 15.53.902 for a list of conditions that cause commercial feeds to be adulterated):

• Unmixed whole seeds and physically altered entire unmixed seeds when such seeds are not chemically changed.
• Raw meat, hay, loose salt, straw, stover, silage, cobs, husks, and hulls when such commodities are not ground, mixed or intermixed with other materials.

Examples of Materials Classified as Commercial Feed:
Plant Protein Products: soybean meal, canola meal, cottonseed meal, pea by-products, yeast products.
Animal Protein Products: meat and bone, animal by-product meal, blood meal, fish meal, poultry meal, hydrolyzed feather meal, milk and whey products.
Processed Grain by-products: wheat millrun, distillers dried grains, corn gluten meal, brewers dried grains, malt sprouts, wheat middlings, bran products.
Molasses Products: beet & cane molasses, molasses distillers dried solubles.
Roughage Products: soybean hulls and millrun, cottonseed hulls, beet pulp.
Forage Products: dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground alfalfa hay, ground grass.
Screenings, Chaff and Dust: wheat, corn, barley, cottonseed, oats, sorghum, rice.
Non-protein Nitrogen Supplements: urea, diammonium phosphate, amino acids.
Fat and Oil Products: animal, vegetable, blends, restaurant grease/”yellow grease”.
Mineral Supplements: mineral blocks, premises, limestone, defluorinated phosphate.
Vitamin Supplements: individual, multiple vitamins, and vitamin precursor mixes.
Fermentation Products: liquid and dry materials obtained from fermentation of grains, molasses, whey and microorganisms such as Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, Penicillium, etc.
Special Purpose Ingredients: flavors, extracts, rumen by-pass, probiotics.
Feeds: any mix of whole or processed grains, concentrates, and complete feeds for all species to include customer formula and labeled feeds, pet food (cat and dog food), specialty pet food (hamsters, canaries, psittacine birds, mynahs, finches, tropical fish, goldfish, snakes, and turtles).

The above examples are representative of some of the most common products classified as commercial feed. For classification of any ingredients that are not listed, please contact WSDA's feed registration staff at (360) 902-2080 or by email at feedreg@agr.wa.gov.

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Initial Distributor:

A person who first distributes a commercial feed in or into this state.   See RCW 15.53.901(13).

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Label:

A display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon or affixed to the container in which a commercial feed is distributed, or on the invoice or delivery slip with which a commercial feed is distributed.

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Pet Food:

A commercial feed prepared and distributed for consumption by domesticated dogs or cats.

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Renderers:

Renderers collect animal mortalities, animal and food by-products and waste materials from animal production facilities, slaughter houses, packing plants, supermarkets, butcher shops and restaurants. Renderers use a cooking process to remove moisture and kill harmful bacteria. This allows animal and food waste products to be turned into useful commercial goods, including tallow, protein meals, such as meat and bone meal, and yellow grease for use in animal feeds, fertilizers and industrial applications. Many renderers also service the restaurant industry by removing used cooking oil and reprocessing it into an animal feed ingredient.

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Responsible Buyer:

Means a licensee who is not the final purchaser of a commercial feed and has agreed to be responsible for reporting tonnage and paying inspection fees for all commercial feeds they distribute.

The Department shall maintain a list of all responsible buyers and make the list available on request (RCW 15.53.9015).   If you are the initial distributor of commercial feed into the state of Washington, you must pay inspection fees on all commercial feed sold during this reporting period; the only exception is if you are selling to one of the companies on this Responsible Buyer list. (RCW 15.53.9018)

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Specialty Pet Food:

A commercial feed prepared and distributed for consumption by specialty pets. Specialty pets are domesticated animal pets normally maintained in a cage or tank, such as, but not limited to, gerbils, hamsters, canaries, psittacine birds, mynahs, finches, tropical fish, goldfish, snakes, and turtles.

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