Feed for Food: HACCP in the animal feed industry

Abstract

In this paper, a brief presentation is given a presentation of the quality programme for the Dutch animal feed Industry. The goal of this program is to produce and supply animal feeds which are safe for consumers of animal products, for the animals and for the environment; in a trustworthy way for all stakeholders––the partners in the chain, the consumers and the legislators––which means to do so demonstrably and transparently. An important part of this program is the GMP standard Animal Feed, which was set up in 1992. This GMP standard contains requirements for the quality system (comparable with ISO 9002) and a number of additional generic control measures for production, trade and transport of animal feed materials focussed on additives, undesirable substances and microbiological aspects. The recent feed and food-related safety crises (BSE, dioxin affairs) were particularly important impulses to enhance the quality programme, which has resulted in (i) the integration of HACCP in the GMP standard and (ii) upstream extension of the quality assurance to all suppliers of feed ingredients. By this way the quality system of the food processing industry has been adopted in the animal feed industry. This underlines that the animal feed is part of the food chain, expressed in the slogan ‘Feed for Food’. The main points are: • Food safety has a high priority world wide. • The animal feed industry, including the ingredient suppliers, is part of the food chain and responsible for the safety of its products. • Demonstrable and transparent quality assurance is a ‘licence to produce’. • HACCP is a proactive approach which links the feed chain to the food chain. • Quality control of raw materials is a mutual concern for suppliers and the animal feed industry. • Trade and industry are assuming their responsibility for product safety.