Storm Of Criticism Over FDA’s “Spent Grain” Rule Misses The Mark

A University of Maryland law professor believes all of the recent criticism of the FDA for a proposed rule governing the use of brewers’ spent grain as animal feed was a typical anti-bureaucracy tempest in a teapot. Breweries have long donated or sold the leftover, or spent, grain to farmers to feed livestock. Washington legislators, especially from brewery-rich Maine, complained bitterly that the FDA’s tightened rules were typical bureaucratic meddling that would make the practice prohibitively expensive. Rena Steinzor, however, said a close reading of the proposed rule finds that it was only written to ensure that dangerous pathogens do not find their way into the livestock feed supply.