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Listen to this siteTuesday 5 January 2010
This update provides information about the Animal Nutrition Section of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) meeting held on 17–18 December 2009.
Re-evaluation of feed additives under Article 10 of Regulation 1831/2003
The panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed (FEEDAP) secretariat gave a presentation on the forthcoming re-evaluation of feed additives.
The main concern was that the panel would have difficulties coping with the large number of applications that would require assessment.
There seems to be little scope for member state officials to assist FEEDAP directly.
However, a number of member states offered to help the European Commission by undertaking validity checks.
The Commission will write to potential industry applicants in order to assess which additives will be supported by a dossier.
Regulation 767/2009 on marketing and use of feed
The Commission provided a new document outlining its views on which grey area substances should be considered as feed materials.
While this was well accepted, some member states disagreed with the Commission’s intention to remove dual-listing (i.e. single products being considered as either feed or an additive, depending on the intended use).
The Commission agreed to update its list, and asked member states to provide additional candidate substances by Friday 15 January 2010.
The Commission gave a presentation on tolerances for compositional labelling of feed (Annex IV Regulation 767/2009). It provided a revised draft of the Annex based partly on comments provided by member states. Commission reminded member states that only the added amount of a listed feed additive has to be declared. If a feed additive is listed as a constituent, the total quantity must be declared.
The issue of labelling the moisture content for moist feeds was discussed. The Commission will not consider reinstating the derogation. The current text included a 5% (absolute) tolerance for feeds that had a moisture content of more than 50%. Some member states did not see this as sufficient. The Commission will reassess the matter once more data had been provided by the producing sector.
The Commission provided a draft regulation for a transitional period for feed labelling (Article 32 Regulation 767/2009). This will allow the use of the new labelling rules contained in Regulation 767/2009 before the application date of 1 September 2010. In addition, it would allow pet food manufacturers to use ‘old’ labels until 1 September 2011. It is expected that the vote will take place in January or February 2010.
Undesirable substances in feed
The Commission provided a revised draft proposal for a regulation for acceptability criteria for feed detoxification.
It was suggested that the requirement for member states to report annually to the Commission might be an unnecessary administrative burden, and that some additional information might be included in member states’ annual returns made under Regulation 183/2005.
The Commission agreed to consider this suggestion. The proposal will go for a vote in early 2010.
Member states and the Commission have still not decided whether to have statutory maximum permitted levels for non-dioxin-like PCBs. It was generally agreed that more data on background levels should be sought to help inform this decision. The Commission said that there will be no World Health Organization (WHO) review of toxic equivalent factors (TEFs) for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in the next five years. The Commission would therefore hope to adopt revised maximum limits based on 2005 TEFs in early 2010.
The Commission said that the annexes to Directive 2002/32/EC (undesirable substances in feed) would be revised in early 2010 in order to consolidated recent changes into a single text. However, questions remain with regard to revision clauses and some footnotes.
The Committee discussed the current provisions for certain mycotoxins (e.g. ochratoxin and deoxynivenalol) in feed. However, there was still a split between those member states (including the UK) who wish to retain the current guidance values, and those who wish to have statutory maximum limits. The Commission is to consider whether a compromise text could be drawn up for discussion in January 2010.
It was agreed that the current official methods of sampling of feed are not wholly adequate. The Commission was unsure whether to try to amend existing methods or start afresh. It was agreed that an expert group would be set up to take this matter forward.
The European Food Safety Authority has been asked to undertake an assessment of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of hemp used as animal feed.
The comments above represent the UK delegation’s interpretation of the meeting’s discussions. The European Commission’s reports of these meetings and the agendas can be found at the link below.
SCoFCAH is a European Commission regulatory committee that was established by Regulation 178/2002, a regulation that includes the laying down of principles and requirements of feed law. Meetings of the committee are chaired by European Commission officials, and attended by member states’ representatives. The committee can give an opinion, that is to say a vote, on certain proposed measures, prior to their possible adoption by the Commission.
SCoFCAH has eight sections. The Animal Nutrition Section deals with animal feed and meets about 10 times each year. Information about the outcome of each meeting will be published on this website.
For further information about the SCoFCAH Animal Nutrition Section, email Dr Ray Smith at
ray.smith@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
.
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