ANIMAL FEED - Commission proposal to exclude condemned animal material from the feed chain

"The fundamental objective of this proposal is to revamp veterinary legislation on animal by-products so that it lives up to the highest standard of human and animal health protection", said David Byrne, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection. "Any contamination of animal feed, whether with BSE, dioxins or some other contaminants, ultimately is a threat to the safety of the food that ends up on the consumer's table. In the White Paper on Food Safety we recognised that food safety means safety at every link of the production chain, from the farm to the fork. For me, safeguarding and improving the quality of life of European citizens means doing the utmost to eliminate food scares. Today's proposal is a far-reaching, ambitious piece of legislation, based on science and the political determination to make consumer safety our top priority."

Feed containing contaminated animal waste is today generally considered the primary source of the spread of BSE and also the source of the dioxin contamination. Today's proposal builds on previous measures requiring pressure treatment of mammalian waste and the exclusion of specified high risk material, to exclude all dead animals and condemned materials from the feed chain.

Three categories of animal materials are distinguished, only one of which may be used in the production of feed for farm animals.

• Category 1 material, the highest risk category, includes animal by-products presenting a risk related to a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or a risk related to the presence of residues of prohibited substances used illegally (i.e. hormone used for growth promotion) or residues of environmental contaminants (i.e. dioxins and PCB's). These materials must be completely disposed of as waste by incineration or landfill after undergoing appropriate heat treatment.
• Category 2 material includes animal by-products presenting a risk related to animal diseases other than TSEs (i.e. animals which have died on the farm or were killed in the context of disease control measures on the farm) or a risk of residues of veterinary drugs. Manure, digestive tract contents and slaughterhouse water treatment waste are also included in this category. These materials may only be recycled for uses other than animal nutrition after appropriate heat treatment (i.e. biogas, composting, oleochemical products, etc).
• Category 3 material includes by-products derived from healthy animals (i.e animals slaughtered for human consumption which passed the health inspection, fish caught in the open sea, milk from healthy animals). Only by-products belonging to this category can be used as feed materials following appropriate treatment. This category establishes a 'positive list' of materials which can be used for the preparation of ingredients of animal origin for incorporation in animal feed and petfood .

The Regulation also contains provisions imposing a separation of these three types of animal materials streams during collection, transport, storage and processing and imposes a reliable identification and registration system of the final products. For example, animal protein meals not destined for animal feed production (category 1 or 2) must be dyed with a marker.

The proposal is based on Article 152 of the Treaty and subject to co-decision in European Parliament and Council of Ministers. It takes the form of a regulation to guarantee uniform application in the Member States, maximum transparency and possibility for rapid updating to take account of technical and scientific updating. A second accompanying proposal for a directive repeals certain directives and decisions relative to animal waste and amends certain others.