GMP+ feed: indication of 'history'

Dutch quality assurance system for animal feed

In the Dutch GMP+ quality assurance system for animal feed, the requirements for traceability have been significantly tightened. The raw material supplier must not only know the history of his products, he must also communicate them to his customers. Knowing the history of an animal feed ingredient helps animal feed producers to optimize their quality assurance.

Where does the animal feed come from? Where was it stored? Who processed the animal feed? These questions are of great importance for assessing the safety of a product, but also for traceability in the event of a problem.

Until now, Dutch regulations, in line with the European Union's General Food Law, stipulated that producers must know the origin of their products. If problems arise, this information can then be used by the company or third parties to identify deviating products or raw materials.
Knowing the origin of a product is of great importance for the assessment of safety. In the Netherlands, all upstream links in the animal feed industry must meet the requirements of the GMP+ quality assurance system. Since the producer knows his supplier, he can check whether he is GMP+ approved. This is a little more difficult with the upstream chain links; With a product it is not apparent whether all companies involved in its manufacture and processing have done so on the basis of the GMP+ regulations.

In order to rectify this situation, the Board of the Animal Feed Economic Group has included various requirements in the GMP+ regulations for animal feed ingredients. The feed supplier must forward the information about the origin to the customer. The goal is that the recipient of the feed receives more information about the product. This includes information on the origin, storage and transport of the feed and the naming of who was responsible for it.

With this information, the path that the feeds have physically traveled is set out. This also includes information about the product and the producer, possible storage locations and the loading location. The information required is details of the points at which the feed has been treated or processed and who is responsible for it. Further information, such as the persons who have not carried out any measures with the product, do not have to be provided automatically, but must be provided on request.

Source: Economic Group Animal Feed (www.pdv.nl)

Source: Düsseldorf [dmb]