CDFA ANNOUNCES WORKSHOP TO HEAR INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON PROPOSED DEFINITIONS FOR WHOLE COTTONSEED

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) will be holding an industry workshop to receive comments on a proposed regulation that would define quality standards for whole cottonseed sold as livestock feed. The workshop is to be held at 10:00 a.m. on July 31, 2003, at the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto, California 95358.

The proposed definitions have been developed by the department in response to concerns by members of both the feed and dairy industries in California. Approximately one-half million tons of whole cottonseed is imported into the state each year for use as dairy cattle feed. Due to poor weather conditions in the southeastern United States, the quality of whole cottonseed shipped into California was adversely affected, resulting in complaints of wet and mold-damaged cottonseed from dairy producers and commodity brokers.  The Feed Inspection Advisory Board of the California Department of Food and Agriculture recently recommended that regulatory language be developed to define quality standards for whole cottonseed.

For additional information about the workshop, contact CDFA at (916) 445-0444, or by e-mail (sbeam@cdfa.ca.gov). The proposed definitions for whole cottonseed may be viewed on the web at www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/acrs/acrsffld.htm.

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