February 2010 update on the Animal Nutrition Section of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health

Votes
A vote was taken on SANCO/10980/2009 – this is a proposed Commission Regulation concerning authorisation for an enzyme (a 6-phytase) as a feed additive for certain poultry and porcine categories. The European Union member states gave the Commission’s proposal received a qualified majority vote in favour.

A proposal (SANCO/10069/2010) for a Commission Regulation as regards the prohibition to market or use yeasts from the Candida variety cultivated on n-alkanes as feed was given a qualified majority vote in favour. This measure merely continues an existing prohibition.

A vote was also taken on Commission Regulation (SANCO/10067/2010) that relates to creating a catalogue of feed materials. The creation of such a catalogue is a requirement under Article 24 of Regulation 767/2009 on the marketing and use of feed. The Commission’s proposal received a qualified majority vote in favour.

Feed additives
There was a further discussion on a recent 'self-tasked' opinion from European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concerning the use of cobalt salts as feed additives. It is likely that the Commission and member states will wait for the reassessments expected for these feed additives expected under Article 10 of Regulation 1831/2003 before any changes to the current controls are considered.

Marketing and use of animal feed
The Commission provided a draft list of ‘grey area’ substances to be regarded as feed materials. Member states were generally content with the list, subject to some amendments being made. It is expected that the list will be put into a draft Commission Decision for a vote at the March or April meeting.

Member states and the Commission discussed the permitted tolerances for the compositional labelling of feed as set out in Annex IV to Regulation 767/2009. It was agreed that some changes to the values contained in the Annex should be made. The most significant of these is for the moisture content of feeds with a moisture content of greater than 50%. The new tolerance would be up to 7.5% of the declared content.

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 ten 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: ray.smith@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk