Feed hygiene

On 26 of April 2004 the Council adopted Regulation 183/2005 EC the European Parliament and of the Council laying down requirements for feed hygiene.

The proposal was presented by the by Commission on 14 of April 2003 in the framework of the Commission's White Paper on Food Safety, and the way the three institutions negotiated allowed a successful first reading agreement in a short time.

The final text adopted by the Council and the Parliament retains all the main principles of the Commission proposal. Therefore guaranteeing a good improvement on the safety of feed.

This Regulation will ensure that feed safety is considered at all stages that may have an impact on feed and food safety, including primary production.

In particular it introduces the following main elements:

The compulsory registration of all feed business operators by the competent authority
Approval of feed business establishments carrying out operations involving the more sensitive substances, such as certain feed additives, premixtures and compound feedingstuffs
The approval system for feed businesses for the cases dealing with more sensitive substances will be maintained but provisions are made to extend the current scope for the approval requirement when necessary
To ensure that all feed businesses operate in accordance with harmonised hygiene requirements
To implement the application of good hygiene practice at all levels of agriculture production and use of feed
To introduce the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles for the feed business operators other than at the level of primary production
Community and national guides to good practice in feed production
To introduce compulsory requirements for feed production at farm level
To provide for a European Union framework for guides to good practice in feed production

Since the adoption of the Feed Hygiene Regulation, competent authorities of the EU countries and stakeholders have asked the Commission to clarify a number of aspects.

In order to aswer these requests, a Commission Notice was published on 5 July 2019 intitled "Guidance document on the implementation of certain provisions of Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 laying down requirements for feed hygiene".