Part 3.
TEXAS FEED AND FERTILIZER CONTROL SERVICE/OFFICE OF THE TEXAS STATE CHEMIST
Chapter 61.
COMMERCIAL FEED RULES
Subchapter A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
4 TAC §61.1
The Feed and Fertilizer Control Service/Office of the Texas
State Chemist proposes amendments to §61.1 Definitions. The amendments
are being proposed to clarify terms now used inconsistently in the marketplace,
thus ensuring that products are not being misbranded.
Dr. George W. Latimer, Jr., Asst. to the Assoc. Vice Chancellor of Agriculture,
has determined that for each year of the first five-year period the rule is
in effect there will be no fiscal implications for state or local government
as a result of enforcing or administering the rule.
Dr. Latimer has also determined that for each of the first five years the
rule is in effect the public benefit to those concerned about the source of
ingredients used in animal feeds, e.g., those whose pets suffer from allergies
and those who wish to raise animals for food using natural and/or "organic"
feeds, will be a clarification of terminology which will permit them to make
better marketplace choices. There is no economic cost to those distributors
who do not wish to compete in this market. There is an economic cost to those
who wish to compete which is difficult to estimate since distributors may
have to re-label or reformulate products; however that cost can be spread
out over time.
Comments on the proposal may be submitted to Dr. George W. Latimer, Jr.,
Office of the Texas State Chemist, P.O. Box 3160, College Station, TX 77841-3160
or fax to (979) 845-1389.
The amendment is proposed under Texas Agriculture Code 141, §141.004
which provides Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service with the authority
to promulgate rules relating to the distribution of commercial feeds.
The Texas Agriculture Code, 4 TAC 141, of the Texas Commercial Feed Control
Act, Subchapter A, §141.001, is affected by the proposed amendment.
§61.1.Definitions
Except where otherwise provided, the terms and definitions adopted
by the Association of American Feed Control Officials in the last published
edition of the annual Official Publication are hereby adopted by reference
as the terms and definitions to control in this title. The publication is
available from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. In addition,
the following words and terms, when used in this title, shall have the following
meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) - (9)
(No change.)
(10)
Natural - Materials - animal, plant,
or mineral - found solely in or produced solely by nature which have neither
been mixed with any synthetic material nor changed from their initial physical
state except by washing, air-drying, chopping, grinding, pressing, shredding,
or pelleting and not changed in its chemical state except by biological degradation
or chemical change initiated solely under normal conditions of aging, rainfall,
sun-curing or sun-drying, composting, rotting, enzymatic or anaerobic bacterial
action, or any combination thereof.
(11)
Organic - When applied to a product,
to a compound, to a mixture of compounds or to a specific constituent used
as an ingredient means that the claim of the product, compound, mixture of
compounds, or constituent to be organic has been accepted by
(A)
the United States Department of Agriculture's
National Organic Program; or
(B)
the Association of American Feed Control
Officials; or
(C)
the Texas Department of Agriculture's Organic
Certification Program; and
(D)
the Feed and Fertilizer Control Service.
(12)
[
(13)
[
(14)
[
(15)
[
(16)
[
(17)
[
(18)
[
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been
reviewed by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority
to adopt.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State, on May 24, 2000.
TRD-200003666
Dr. George W. Latimer, Jr.
Assistant to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Agriculture
Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service/Office of the Texas State Chemist
Earliest possible date of adoption: July 9, 2000
For further information, please call: (979) 845-1121
Subchapter A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
(10)
] Person - Any individual,
partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public
or private organization of any character.
(11)
] Pet Food - Any commercial
feed prepared and distributed for consumption by a dog or cat or an animal
normally maintained in a cage or tank in or near the household(s) of the owner
such as, but not limited to, gerbils, hamsters, birds, fish, snakes and turtles.
(12)
] Salvage - When applied
to an ingredient or combination of ingredients, refers only to those products
that have been damaged by natural causes, such as fire, water, hail, or windstorm,
or by conveyance mishap. Does not apply to recovered production line products
which are suitable for reprocessing.
(13)
] Service - Texas Feed
and Fertilizer Control Service.
(14)
] Toxin - Any compound
causing adverse biological effects including, but not limited to, poisons,
carcinogens or mutagens, produced by an organism avoidably present at any
level or unavoidably present at levels in a feed above those authorized by
the Service.
(15)
] Weed seeds - Those seeds
declared prohibited or restricted noxious weed seeds by the Texas Agriculture
Code, §61.008 (concerning Noxious Weed Seeds).
(16)
] Wildlife - Any feral
animal, any animal not normally considered as domesticated in Texas or any
animal living in a state of nature.
Chapter 65.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER RULES