ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — To enable the industry to better understand the largest set of rules to impact feed and pet food since the 1950s, the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) is hosting Food Safety Modernization Act regional seminars across the United States during the next 18 months. 

Registration for the "FSMA Regional Seminar, Phase 1: Building a Foundation for Compliance" is now open. This is the first of the multi-phased seminar schedule. 

The first phase I meeting will kick off the series July 27-28, in Sacramento, California, U.S. Additional seminars will be hosted in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., and Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., Aug. 11-12 and Aug. 14-15, respectively. Phase II and phase III will follow in 2015. 

The training sessions will cover various components of the new law that will be required by feed and pet food manufacturers as well as ingredient suppliers. All three phases of the regional seminars are ideal for those interested in understanding how FSMA will impact their business, and will be most beneficial to those that manufacture animal feed, pet food and feed ingredients.

"During phase I, starting in Sacramento, we will focus on the requirements for feed manufacturing, pet food manufacturing and ingredient suppliers to comply with the FSMA law," said Richard Sellers, AFIA senior vice-president of legislative and regulatory affairs. "Our goal is to help attendees establish fundamentals for FSMA compliance within their companies. Attendees will be provided with samples of procedures, forms and reference information that can be utilized in their corporate offices to develop a compliance plan."

The two-day Sacramento seminar will include presentations such as "CGMPs: The Foundation for an Effective Food Safety Plan," "What are the Key Components of a Supplier Verification Program?" and "Hazard Identification and Analysis."