Agencies
Services
Feed Frequently Asked Questions
- 1. Who is required to obtain an Illinois Commercial Feed License?
- 2. If I have more than one manufacturing or distribution site in Illinois, do I need to license all of them?
- 3. Which commercial feed products are required to be registered with the Illinois Department of Agriculture?
- 4. What is the registration fee for commercial feed?
- 5. Why am I not able to license my company as a dba or c/o?
- 6. What is the Semi-Annual Tonnage Report?
- 7. What is the inspection fee for pet/specialty pet foods packaged in containers of 10 lbs. or less?
- 8. How do I obtain a Certificate of Free Sale for Commercial Feed?
- 9. How do I obtain a GMP Certificate?
- 10. What is an Exempt Buyer?
1. Who is required to obtain an Illinois Commercial Feed License?
- Any person/company that manufactures commercial feed in Illinois or whose name appears on the label of the product must obtain an Illinois Commercial Feed License.
- Feed Distribution Manufacture License
- The fee for an Illinois Commercial Feed License is $30.00.
- Sites that manufacture or distribute products under the same company name as the primary company but in different locations must also obtain a license as secondary sites.
- Secondary sites may be listed on the same feed license application as the primary company and are covered under the $30.00 fee. No additional fee is required to license the secondary sites.
- Commercial Feed Registration
- All commercial feed products that are manufactured and/or distributed in Illinois are required to be registered.
- Customer formulated feeds are not required to be registered with IDOA. The products used to create the customer blend are required to be registered.
- Companies are not required to register a product that has already been registered by another company.
- If a company repackages or relabels a product then it must be registered as a new product with the IDOA under that company’s name.
- Illinois does not have a registration fee for commercial feed.
- Please see below for inspection fees due upon registration for small package pet/specialty pet foods.
- The Illinois Commercial Feed License must reflect the manufacturing and/or distributing company name and address as it appears on the label.
- The semi-annual tonnage report is generated by the Bureau of API and sent to all licensed commercial feed companies that sell livestock feed and pet/specialty pet products in packages over 10 lbs. The first seller of a commercial feed in Illinois is responsible for completing this report of the amount of commercial feed sold in Illinois and is responsible for the inspection fee unless it is sold to an Exempt Buyer that will assume the responsibility for the inspection fee.
- This fee is $.30 per ton of product sold or a minimum of $25.00.
- Small package pet/specialty pet foods are not included in this fee. See below.
- Customer-Formula feeds or custom blends are exempt from the inspection fee if the inspection fee has been paid on the commercial feeds which they contain.
- Illinois Commercial Feed Tonnage Reports are due by July 31st of the first reporting period (January 1 – June 30) and January 31st of the second reporting period (July 1 – December 31). The Illinois Commercial Feed Act allows a 15 day grace period after the due date before an assessment of a late fee is applied. The late fee is 10% of the inspection fee or $50.00, whichever is greater, on top of the amount due for the inspection fee.
- The inspection fee for small package pet/specialty pet foods is $90.00 for each product that is registered with IDOA. This fee is due upon registration of the product(s).
- The $90.00 inspection fee is due annually upon renewal of each product.
- These products are not subject to the Illinois Commercial Feed Semi-Annual Inspection Fee.
- To be eligible to obtain a Certificate of Free Sale from IDOA the product must be registered with IDOA and either manufactured in Illinois or the company’s primary site located in Illinois.
- An application must be completed and returned with a label for each product that is to be listed on the Certificate. The labels are compared with those on file from registration prior to the Certificate being issued. Below is the link to the required application.
- Feed Certificate of Free Sales
- An application must be submitted for each Certificate that is requested.
- Feed Certificate of Free Sales
- The fee for a Certificate of Free Sale is $20.00 per certificate.
- More than 1 product can be listed on the Certificate without an increase in the fee.
- A GMP Certificate can be obtained if a company has been inspected and found to be in compliance with the “Current Good Manufacturing Practices” within the past 2 years.
- All requests for GMP Certificates must be made in writing to the Illinois Department of Agriculture/Bureau of API.
- The fee for a GMP Certificate is $20.00 per certificate.
- An exempt buyer is a company that assumes the inspection reporting and fee requirements from the original seller.
- Any person may request "exempt buyer" status from the Director by providing business information which indicates the person does 50% or more business as an interstate distributor or central buyer.