ACAF open meeting 14 December 2011

Wednesday 21 December 2011

The Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs open meeting in London gave stakeholders an opportunity to observe the committee at work and to ask questions.

Two new Members were welcomed on to the committee: they were Mrs Christine McAlinden (toxicology) and Mr David Peers (animal nutrition).

The committee was given an oral presentation on the initial findings of the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) audit of the UK in November 2011 to evaluate the implementation of official controls on feed. In due course the committee will be asked to provide advice on how the Agency can address relevant recommendations made by the FVO audit team.

The committee also considered a paper on the identification of feed business establishments. This was the first of three papers covering potential safety gaps in the feed sector, with the aim of reducing the risk of an incident similar to the German dioxin feed contamination (December 2010) occurring in the UK. Members provided information on the types of establishments that may not be registered by enforcement authorities, and made recommendations on how these could be identified.

The committee received a presentation on organic feed issues, including proposed changes to legislation. Members noted that a vote in Brussels on the new legislation is expected in early February 2012. The committee agreed that this was an important but complex issue and asked to be kept informed of developments on this subject.

Members also received a presentation on the contamination of the food chain by brominated flame retardants. This covered the potential long term impact of these chemicals and work being done by the Agency and international organisations. The committee recommended that feed should be covered in further work undertaken by the Agency.

Finally, the committee considered its forward work programme for 2011-2012. The committee agreed that four new work items should be included: feed safety – potential gaps; recommendations from the FVO audit of UK feed law enforcement; microbiological issues; and handling of feed incidents.

After the close of the meeting, delegates were given the opportunity to ask questions.

The next ACAF meeting is scheduled to take place in London on 7 March 2012.