Growing up I always had animals around the house and knew from an early age that I wanted a career that somehow revolved around animals and agriculture, but I didn’t know exactly what that would look like. When I graduated high school, I went to Clemson University as a pre-vet major, but ultimately decided that I was more interested in feed and nutrition than vet school. I graduated and went to work at a small family-owned pet food company in the southeast where I worked as a product specialist in dog food for the sporting dog breeds. That position was a great role that taught me a lot about the manufacturing and distribution of pet food, labeling requirements, and overall, how to communicate with many different consumers that purchase products for their animals. Looking back, I really appreciate what I learned working for that company, but I was still searching for something else.   

Through a mutual friend, I learned that the South Carolina Department of Agriculture had an opening for a Feed Control Official. I applied and started in that role in September of 2014. I’ve been with SCDA now for seven years, and in that time, I’ve had the opportunity to conduct inspections across the state at various types of facilities that manufacture and distribute commercial feed products for animals in our state and around the country. We’ve been able to grow our feed safety program at the department and really focus on building our team into a nationally recognized program. Currently, I oversee our day-to-day activities that include a routine feed sampling program, inspections at facilities across the state, registration and label review, and compliance and enforcement.  

Annually, feed safety staff collect over 800 samples of products that range from livestock feed to pet food and even commercial feed ingredients. We test all these products at our laboratory on the campus of the State Farmer’s Market to make sure that they meet the nutritional guarantees that are listed on the label as well as for potential adulterants such as mycotoxins, heavy metals, or pathogens. Feed Safety staff follow up with distributors and retailers when we determine that samples have a failed analysis so we can ensure that consumers in the state have safe and nutritious products to purchase for their animals. Additionally, we require all commercial feed products that are sold in the state to be registered with our department each year. This gives us an opportunity to review over 20,000 product labels to make sure that they include the required information and truthful marketing claims so consumers can make wise buying decisions when shopping for products. Finally, our staff conducts inspections at all facilities in the state that manufacture or distribute commercial feed products to make sure that they are being manufactured, processed, or packaged under conditions that minimize the potential for contamination. This equates to about 600 inspections per year at various types of facilities. 

I’m very proud of the work that our feed safety team does to ensure that consumers in our state can have confidence in the products they purchase to feed their animals and I’m thankful that the journey I’ve had in agriculture has led me to a career that I’m passionate about and that allows me the opportunity to work to protect and promote feed safety in South Carolina.