World Grain - December 2007 - 26

FEATURE: SETTING THE FEFAC AGENDA

feed grains, aggravated artificially by
the E.U.'s GM policy, have led to close
interaction and cooperation between
the raw materials suppliers, FEFAC and
the European livestock producers and
the meat processing sector. There is a
clear recognition and willingness from
all parties of the value chain that joint
action on issues such as cereal market

probably the most significant success
story of the European feed industry of
the past five to 10 years. The FEFAC
feed safety action plan launched in 1998
was sanctioned by feed manufacturers
and the competent authorities in 2007
with the successful assessment by the
E.U.'s Standing Committee of the Food
Chain of the EFMC as the first Europe-

"The EFMC is probably the most significant success story of the
European feed industry of the past five to 10 years."
- Pedro Correa de Barros, FEFAC President

management, feed and food safety standards and the CAP Health Check is the
way forward to ensure the competitiveness of the European livestock sector.
WG: What is the estimated outlook
for compound feed production in the
E.U. for 2007? Are there any projections
yet for 2008?
Corrêa de Barros: We would expect
an increase of production of approximately 1% in 2007, with some recovery in the poultry sector, but also due
to continued growth in the pig sector.
However, total growth may suffer depending on the extent that rocketing
raw material prices in the second half
of 2007 take their toll on feed production, as pig and poultry find it hard to
pass on the extra cost for feed to the
final consumer. Most expect a further
increase and stabilization of feed material prices at high levels in 2008. This
could lead to stagnation, or the reduction of compound feed volumes, unless
livestock producers are able to recover
the increase of up to 50% of their feed
costs from the market.

an guide for compound feed and premix
manufacturing, together with guides for
petfood and feed additives. Nineteen
member associations have adopted and
implemented national feed safety codes
based on the EFMC. FEFAC estimates
that more than 85% of all industrial
compound feed and premixes are produced in line with EFMC requirements.
FEFAC has set up an EFMC committee,
which will regularly review and upgrade
the EFMC in line with new results from
feed safety risk assessments. The EFMC
has provided FEFAC with an effective
communication tool to rebuild confidence of chain partners in feed safety
assurance. Positive results of EFMC implementation can be verified, to a certain
extent, by following alert notifications in
the E.U. RASFF system where numbers
for safety alerts on compound feed and
premixes have been at very low levels
since 2002. In addition, national control
reports and reports by the E.U. Food and
Veterinary Office provide information
on satisfactory implementation of voluntary feed safety assurance systems in
all Member States.

WG: Please explain the significance
of the adoption of the European Feed
Manufacturers Guide (EFMC) and the
role it is having on the European feed
and food sectors. Is it being successfully
implemented?
Corrêa de Barros: The EFMC is

WG: Has there been any recent progress in the attempt to simplify E.U.'s
feed labeling rules?
Corrêa de Barros: Following a series
of intensive stakeholder consultations,
conducted by the European Commission since 2003, we expect a new Com-

mission proposal on simplification and
modernization of feed labeling rules
covering the whole feed sector in a single regulation before the end of 2007.
The last administrative hurdle in form
of an economic impact assessment was
taken in June 2007, when the competent services received a positive evaluation report on the potential economic
benefits of its approach towards "better
regulation" for feed labeling. The European Commission is expected to encourage the industry to participate more actively in co-regulation of its activities by
drawing up codes of practices or codes
of conduct on issues such as listing feed
materials and product claims.
WG: FEFAC has stated in the past
that E.U. risk management policy must
move away from the "zero-tolerance
principle" and adopt the ALARA principle instead? What are the organization's
reasons for taking this stance?
Corrêa de Barros: The zero-tolerance policy on residues of animal proteins introduced with the feed ban has
led to the destruction of thousands of
tons of feed materials, including corn
gluten feed and sugar beet pulp where
control samples showed the presence of
a single microscopic bone fragment. It
took FEFAC five years to convince the
E.U. legislators in the Commission, the
European Parliament and the Council
to grant a legal basis for a tolerance
for technically unavoidable presence of
animal protein residues resulting from
environmental contamination (topsoil
contains bone material). Currently, the
E.U. runs the risk of destroying its entire feed, livestock and food industry by
sticking to a strict zero-tolerance policy
on the presence of GM events which are
not yet approved in the E.U. Interestingly, the E.U. diffused such a scenario
years ago for imports of products of animal origin by setting Reference Points of
actions for residues of veterinary drugs
and has set maximum limits for pesticides in feeds that are not approved in
the E.U. The current approach demonstrates that the E.U. still has a long way
December 2007 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - December 2007

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