3 - Detecting animal tissues in feed and feed ingredients

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the detection of animal tissues in feed and feed ingredients. Enforcement of existing feed bans, regardless of the country or geographical region, depends upon several factors; education of the feed manufacturers, end users, and others on how to comply with these bans, institution of quality control measures to ensure compliance, and transparency of compliance upon inspection, including analytical measures by feed ingredient and finished feed manufactures, inspectional evidence of compliance with the bans collected by regulatory authorities and, finally, analysis of feed or feed ingredients collected by these same inspectors. Thus, analysis for prohibited proteins is but one aspect in the overall system for compliance, though a critical aspect for any enforcement action regulatory authorities might initiate. The chapter describes many of the analytical systems currently used or contemplated for use to detect animal proteins in animal feed and feed components. It also discusses some new methods and approaches for detecting animal tissues in feed. The issue of controlling animal proteins in animal feed is mainly one of compliance with existing national and international feed bans. Compliance with existing feed bans requires a multi-pronged approach, relying on factors such as education, inspections, and enforcement, along with analytical evaluation of animal feed and feed ingredients. Education is perhaps one of the most critical aspects in any compliance program. Without education, it is impossible to be assured that the various manufacturers and users of animal feed are fully aware of the rules and regulations concerning what are allowed and banned and what types of records and record-keeping systems are needed to ensure compliance and facilitate inspection of the records by the appropriate government agencies.