Defining pet food, animal feed, and nutritional supplements

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What are oral nutritional compounds?

Oral nutritional compounds (ONCs) are a type of agricultural compound. They are substances that provide nourishing substances or nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, and fats utilised by the animal to function normally and remain healthy (a nutritional benefit). This includes providing nutrients to animals that are undernourished but still healthy.

Animal feeds such as milled grain-based compounded feed, "feed commodities" such as silage and hay and pet foods fed to animals to deliver energy and other nutrients to meet their daily nutritional needs are ONCs. Nutritional preparations, also referred to as supplements or premixtures intended to provide animals with specific nutrients such as vitamins and minerals are also ONCs.

Nutrient preparations are not considered to be solely ONCs when:

Claims are made that they are intended to achieve a non-nutritional benefit
They contain substances that act primarily as pharmacological or therapeutic substances, even if they might also be nutrients.

In addition to being subject to the ACVM Act and Regulations, oral nutritional compounds that are manufactured in New Zealand and contain animal products are also subject to the Animal Products Act 1999.

Animal Products Act 1999

Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act 1997 – NZ Legislation

Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (Exemptions and Prohibited Substances) Regulations 2011 – NZ Legislation

Feed additives

ONCs may contain feed additives. These are non-nutrient ingredients, like preservatives and flavourings that are added to feed to improve its quality, taste, or nutritive value. If a feed additive has directions to be fed directly to animals for a nutritional benefit, it becomes an ONC.

Non-nutrient substances added to feed to achieve an outcome in the animal rather than acting on the feed are not feed additives. The nature of these substances and the outcome expected in the animal will determine whether their addition will alter the regulatory status of the ONC.

Nutritional preparations

This subset of ONCs includes substances that are ready for feeding to animals directly (e.g., pet treats) and those that can only be fed when added to other animal feed products (e.g., powdered mineral supplements).

Intra-ruminal boluses are supplements for administration to ruminants that are intended to deliver (or pay out) nutrients to the treated animal over days to months rather than within hours. These supplements are excluded from the oral nutritional compound entry in the regulations because as a group they have a different risk profile from other oral nutritional preparations.