05/24/2023
NOTICE TO COMMERCIAL FEED INDUSTRY
California Food and Agricultural Code (FAC) Section 15051(a) states each person shall
obtain a license from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for
each location where commercial feed is manufactured, distributed, sold, or stored for
later sale in California. The person who holds the commercial feed license should
be the person who is manufacturing, distributing, selling, or storing commercial
feed at that licensed location. This will ensure the licensee has control of
management of the facility to allow CDFA’s Commercial Feed Regulatory Program to
conduct inspections, obtain samples, and ensure safety of feed manufactured,
distributed, sold, or stored at the facility. “Person” means any individual, corporation,
partnership, limited liability company, trust, association, cooperative association, or any
other business unit or organization.
Brokers are also required to obtain commercial feed licenses for their place of business
(e.g., their office), because they are selling commercial feed. However, a broker should
not obtain a commercial feed license on behalf of any location operated by another
person or business.
Human food facilities which are manufacturing, distributing, selling, or storing a product
intended for animal feed must obtain a commercial feed license, even if all their product
is sold to another licensee. However, human food retail establishments and restaurants
which ONLY handle food intended for human consumption AND all their food byproduct is picked up by a commercial feed licensee are exempt from obtaining a
commercial feed license. If the retail establishment or restaurant is diverting to animal
feed directly to an un-licensed purchaser, then they must obtain a commercial feed
license. As a reminder, CDFA has reduced the commercial feed license fee to one
hundred dollars ($100) for facilities that solely divert eligible human food waste and
have no other commercial feed operations.
Additional clarification regarding when a commercial feed license is required is provided
in a new infographic, “Do I Need a Commercial Feed License”, found at:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/docs/Do_I_need_a_Commercial_Feed_License.pdf
To learn more about how to obtain a commercial feed license, please contact CDFA's
Commercial Feed Regulatory Program at 916-900-5022, [email protected], or
visit our website https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/CommercialFeedReg.html.