SACRAMENTO — The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Commercial Feed Regulatory Program has announced new regulations supporting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by redirecting human food by-products to livestock feed, instead of going to waste and adding to methane emissions.

CalRecycle reports that Californians throw away approximately 6 million tons of food per year. CDFA’s new regulations promote a decrease in food waste by redirecting food by-products to livestock feed, as long as the by-products are properly stored and handled and retain nutritional value. Examples of by-products are wet citrus pulp, tomato pomace, expired bakery products, wet distillers grains, restaurant leftovers, and fruits and vegetables that don’t meet market expectations.

To assist companies with redirecting food by-products and participating in the California livestock feed industry, changes to Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (3 CCR) include offering a reduced commercial feed license fee for firms solely diverting eligible human food by-products to livestock feed and a reduced tonnage tax for eligible human food by-products diverted to livestock feed.

View a summary of regulatory changes for further details.

Visit CDFA’s Commercial Feed Regulatory Program webpage for more information about commercial feed licensing and tonnage tax.

Visit CDFA’s Safe Animal Feed Education Program Human Food Waste (By-product) Diversion webpage for more information about human food by-product diversion to livestock feed.

–California Department of Food and Agriculture