Dispatches from 8th annual International Feed Regulators Meeting
Atlanta event addresses fraud, legislation and convergence of feed safety standards
The annual IFRM, which runs parallel to the IPPE feed and meat show, is organized by the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
We caught up with Ruud Tijssens, president of the EU Federation of Feed Manufacturers, Daniela Battaglia, livestock development officer at the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO, and Mario Cutait, chairman of the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) at IPPE to hear about the outcomes of this year's event.
“There was a real willingness on the part of the contributors to share best practice and information. You could see an increased level of engagement in the various discussions at hand from both the regulatory and the feed industry side,” said Battaglia.
Global regulation
Other topics up for review were the project to benchmark and monitor the environmental performance of livestock supply chains and feed legislation in South Africa, Australia and Latin America.
The delegates also discussed feed related work in the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the implementation of the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding (TF AF) terms of reference documents at national level.
The FAO and the IFIF note that in many countries adequate know-how and sufficient awareness are lacking to ensure feed safety among all operators along the whole value chain.
Many countries still lack feed regulatory frameworks and fail to implement feed regulations in harmony with the Codex Alimentarius and other international standards, they add.
“So, in this context, we are rolling out projects at international, regional and national level under a multi-stakeholder initiative from the start of next year - Capacity Development for Feed Safety - in a bid to plug those gaps,” said Battaglia.
