Ruminant Feed Ban Support Project (BSE); Availability of Cooperative Agreements

The summary for the Ruminant Feed Ban Support Project (BSE); Availability of Cooperative Agreements grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Food and Drug Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Ruminant Feed Ban Support Project (BSE); Availability of Cooperative Agreements: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Division of Federal-State Relations (DFSR) in coordination with the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), is announcing the availability of cooperative agreements to further enhance the infrastructure of State, territorial, and tribal animal feed safety and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prevention programs. These cooperative agreements are intended to fund additional personnel, equipment, supplies and training to support activities related to the FDA ruminant feed ban (21 CFR part 589.2000) (referred to as the ruminant feed ban), in State, territory, and tribal governments. Under these cooperative agreements, the State, territory, and tribal governments would enhance their feed/BSE safety programs to increase the ability to locate and visit firms involved in the manufacture, distribution, and transportation of animal feed and operations feeding ruminant animals in their jurisdiction, to verify compliance with the ruminant feed ban. Funds could be used to increase State, territory, and tribal personnel dedicated to conducting these inspections. Funds could also be used for supplies, training, and laboratory equipment for feed sample testing using FDA validated methods. The goal of enhancing their feed/BSE safety programs is to increase State, territory, and tribal inspections under section 702 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 372) of renderers, protein blenders, and feed mills that manufacture animal feeds and feed ingredients, and inspections of salvagers of food and feed, and transporters of animal feed and feed ingredients utilizing materials prohibited under the ruminant feed ban. Finally, the Feed Ban Support Project funds are intended to supplement, not replace, State funding for program improvement. There are seven key project areas identified for this effort: Hire and/or train State/territory/tribal personnel to conduct ruminant feed ban inspections. Training of State/territory/ tribal personnel may be accomplished through the ORA University, or the Association of American Feed Control Officials Annual Feed Seminar, or other training that meets State/territory/tribal and FDA requirements. New hires for this program must meet the State/territory/tribal agency's qualifications for feed inspections and sampling techniques. Hire and/or train laboratory personnel to verify that feed samples are free of materials prohibited under the ruminant feed ban. Laboratory analyses must utilize FDA methodologies for detection of prohibited materials. Identify and inspect renderers, protein blenders, commercial animal feed manufacturers, distributors (including retailers), transporters of animal feed and feed ingredients, on-farm animal feed mixers, and ruminant feeders within the State/territory/ tribal jurisdiction. These inspections would be conducted under section 702 of the FD&C Act using and completing the FDA Ruminant Feed Ban Inspection Checklist and Ruminant Feed Ban Compliance Program to verify compliance with the ruminant feed ban. These inspections would be conducted by officers and employees duly commissioned by FDA in accordance with section 702 of the FD&C Act. Conduct surveillance sampling of renderers, protein blenders, and feed mills that manufacture with materials prohibited under the ruminant feed ban. A minimum of one sample from each facility would be obtained during the inspection and would be analyzed by the State/territorial/tribal government for prohibited materials. This surveillance sampling would be conducted under section 702 of the FD&C Act using and completing the FDA Ruminant Feed Ban Inspection Checklist and Ruminant Feed Ban Compliance Program to verify compliance with the ruminant feed ban. This surveillance sampling would be conducted by officers and employees duly commissioned by FDA in accordance with section 702 of the FD&C Act. Locate and inspect other firms of specified concern, such as feed salvagers, feed transporters, and ruminant feeders. These inspections would be conducted under section 702 of the FD&C Act using and completing the FDA Ruminant Feed Ban Inspection Checklist and Ruminant Feed Ban Compliance Program to verify compliance with the ruminant feed ban. These inspections would be conducted by officers and employees duly commissioned by FDA in accordance with section 702 of the FD&C Act. Provide copies of all completed BSE checklists and sample results as a part of the quarterly program progress report to the FDA Project officer or designated office, as well as provide completed checklists and sample results in accordance with section 702 of the FD&C Act. Be able to identify and quantify improvements to the existing State/territory/tribal BSE program or developing new programs (i.e., personnel hiring, personnel training, equipment upgrades, increase in inspections conducted) in the quarterly reports as a result of the cooperative agreement. FDA will support the projects covered by this notice under the authority of Section 311 of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Act) (Public Law 107-188), which amends the FD&C Act by adding section 909 (21 U.S.C. 399). FDA's research program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, No. 93.449.