A REGULATORY UPDATE
ON ANIMAL FEED
ADDITIVES

Conference Date: 25 Nov 2008
Conference Ref: V11-8408
Venue: The Rembrandt Hotel, London

Discount if booked together with Post-Conference Workshop: MANAGING EU FEED ADDITIVE PROJECTS on 26 November 2008 - Ref: V11-8508

INTRODUCTION

As a result of the EU White Paper on Food Safety published in 2000, there have been sweeping changes to legislation concerning the food chain, especially feed and feed additives. The EU feed additive regulation (EC No. 1831/2003) replaced the existing feed additive Directive 70/524/EEC and introduced a new system for assessing feed additive dossiers. The new evaluation procedure involves the EU Commission, EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, which includes delegations from 27 EU Member States (Comitology).

Regulation 1831/2003 re-categorised feed additives and created new functional groups. Functional groups may be expanded in the future to include new types of feed additives. Antibiotic growth promoters were prohibited in the EU from January 2006 and although coccidiostats remain as feed additives, maintaining approvals under the new legislation presents considerable challenges for all feed additives.

The EU plans to review all currently authorised feed additives within the next decade, most likely starting with products recently classified as additives. Many existing feed additives have never before been subjected to an EU assessment according to current standards of safety, quality and efficacy.

A new feed additive register was first published in November 2005, and is regularly updated. Amino acids, silage agents, and many other products have been classed as feed additives for the first time in the EU, and will maintain authorisations only if a suitable dossier is submitted by November 2010, approved by EFSA and receives a qualified majority vote in Comitology.

Meeting current and future EU regulatory requirements for feed additives is a major challenge for businesses operating in this sector. This conference will review the legislation, examining both procedures and data requirements, and discuss the main issues that confront companies in this important industry sector.