The Animal Feed Network (AFN) will facilitate the sharing of information between government agencies, which can serve as an early alert for pet food and animal feed-related incidents, such as illness or product defects. The AFN launch was announced July 25 by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the Partnership for Food Protection (PFP), for federal and state regulators and health officials.

This shared information can help regulators best target their investigative and laboratory resources to address adverse events associated with adulterated pet food or animal feed. AFN information is intended only to facilitate communication between officials and does not commit members to take enforcement or regulatory action.

The AFN is only accessible by officials with regulatory authority and responsibility over animal feed, and not accessible by the public. The AFN is made up of two portals – Pet Event Tracking Network (PETNet) and LivestockNet.

PETNet, launched in August 2011 as a response to the 2007 outbreak associated with melamine in pet food, has been expanded to include livestock animals, aquaculture species and horse, and thus LivestockNet has been developed.