The U.S. Grains Council is partnering with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) to register new, low-oil/fat DDGS for feed use in Japan. A technical team from Zen-Noh, the leading Japanese importer and merchandiser of DDGS, is now visiting the U.S. to assess the reformulated DDGS and coordinate with the registration effort.

“Japan is our top international partner,” said Tommy Hamamoto, USGC’s Country Director in Japan. “Last year, in terms of U.S. exports, Japan was number one for corn, number three for sorghum, number four for barley, and number six for DDGS. We have excellent relationships with MAFF, and we are working closely with them to make sure re-registration proceeds smoothly.”

All feed ingredients used in Japan must be registered with MAFF and appropriately labeled for nutritional content. The existing DDGS registration includes a tolerance level to accommodate routine, naturally occurring variations in the products. The recent trend by ethanol plants to extract commercially valuable oils from DDGS, however, is yielding a product with significantly lower oil/fat content that is likely to exceed existing tolerance levels. This requires that reduced oil/fat DDGS be tested and re-registered as a new product.

The Council is in the process of contracting for feeding trials and analytical testing to meet MAFF’s registration requirements. 

“If all goes smoothly, and we expect that it will, we will accomplish the re-registration this year without any disruptions to this valuable trading relationship,” Hamamoto said. “The active, hands-on leadership of Zen-Noh is a big help in keeping this process moving smoothly.”