October 10, 2000

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is among several interests participating Wednesday in "Surf Day," an effort to identify animal feed Web sites that promote products for unapproved purposes or that make false or misleading health claims.

For this year, the effort will be limited to Web sites that sell or distribute horse feed or horse feed supplements, otherwise officials fear being overwhelmed by the sheer number of sites and products available on the Internet.

Surf Day is sponsored by the Association of American Feed Control Officials in partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and feed control officials from many states and Canada. Future surf days will be planned to address other issues and species.

"Some distributors may make claims that go beyond the known realities of science," said Ali Kashani, feed and fertilizer compliance coordinator at Washington Department of Agriculture. "If your horse has a nutrient deficiency and you give it the required nutrients it will improve. But, if your horse already is receiving adequate nutrition, and you buy a product that claims to cure illness or make it run faster you will probably be disappointed."

As electronic commerce grows, state and federal regulators are seeing an increasing number of non-traditional, unapproved feed additives and ingredients for sale. Many Internet distributors don't know there are rules concerning the manufacture, labeling, and distribution of these products. Others are aware but chose to ignore them.

"We want to ensure products meet the statutory requirements of each state with respect to licensing, registration, adulteration, mislabeling and false or misleading claims," Kashani said. "Companies that choose not to comply despite this effort, are subject to regulatory action."

The goal of Surf Day is to make initial contact with companies unaware of the regulatory system and remind those that are aware that the same rules apply over the Internet.

Information gathered will be used to develop an educational response for firms found to be out of compliance with state and federal commercial feed regulations. Follow-up activities may include training and compliance monitoring.