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Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 at :
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/bse/legislation_en.html#by-products
It sets up a completely new approach. In the past, raw material of a lower health
standard than the one used for human food were permitted for use in animal feeds.
For example, animals that died on farm and were unfit for human consumption could
enter the animal feed chain. This practice of recycling cadavers and material unfit for
human consumption into the feed chain was the main factor in the spreading of the
BSE epidemic, but also of other food scandals, such as the dioxin crises and foot
and mouth disease. This practice is now prohibited.
Classification in categories
The Regulation classifies animal by-products into three categories based on
their potential risk to animals, the public or to the environment, and sets out how
each category must or may be disposed of.
Category 1 materials (i.e. animal by-products presenting highest risk such as
TSEs or scrapie, residues of prohibited substance e.g. hormone used for growth
promotion or environmental contaminants e.g. dioxins, PCBs) must be
completely disposed of as waste by incineration or landfill after appropriate heat
treatment.
Category 2 materials include animal by-products presenting a risk of
contamination with other animal diseases (e.g. animals which die on farm or are
killed in the context of disease control measures on farm or at risk of residues of
veterinary drugs), and may be recycled for uses other than feeds after
appropriate treatment (e.g. biogas, composting, oleo-chemical products, etc).
Only category 3 materials (i.e. by-products derived from healthy animals
slaughtered for human consumption) may be used in the production of feeds
following appropriate treatment in approved processing plants.
The Regulation also requires reliable traceability and identification systems of
marking for certain materials intended for specific disposal options (e.g.
incineration of meat and bone meal) to avoid possible frauds or risk of diversion
of unauthorised products into food and feed.
Catering waste
While the uses of catering waste in feed for pigs and poultry is not the focus of
the Regulation, it is of major concern to nearly all Member States. Hence the
Member States agreed last year on a total ban on such feeding practices ("swill
feeding to pigs, i.e. liquid feed") in the revised Council Directive on Swine Fever.
Such uses of former foodstuffs and restaurant kitchen waste containing meat
products were at the origin of a number of major animal disease epidemics
including the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK recently, which have
led to enormous losses to the farming and non-farming community.
The three EU institutions agree on the ban on intra-species re-cycling
(cannibalism). Because catering waste fed to pigs may contain porcine
material, catering waste feeding will be inconsistent with the ban on
cannibalism. It is also not possible to establish clear traceability for catering
waste.
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The adopted Regulation is flexible, permitting a temporary relaxation of the ban
on the use of category 3 catering waste in feed. This relaxation will last for a
period of not more than 4 years for Austria and Germany (see IP/03/553).
How does the new approach deal with processed animal proteins such
as meat and bone meal?
Animal by-products are used to produce meat and bone meal. The Regulation does
not affect the current EU total ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal to farmed
animals, which is a separate issue and remains in force without any date set to
terminate it. However, the Regulation establishes clear safety rules for the production
of meat and bone meal in case it is ever re-authorised for inclusion in feed for certain
non-ruminant species, e.g. poultry and pigs.
The new Regulation on animal by-products requires that only animal by-products
derived from animals fit for human consumption (category 3) may be used for animal
feed. In other words, the same health standards required by EU legislation for
human food will be required for animal feed.
In order to guarantee that animal by-products derived from animals unfit for human
consumption cannot enter the human food or animal feed chain, the following
requirements have been introduced:
• complete separation during collection, transport, storage, handling and
processing of animal waste not intended for animal feed or human food;
• complete separation of plants dedicated to feed production from plants
processing other animal waste destined to destruction;
• stricter rules for traceability of animal by-products, including the control of
movements of BSE specified risk material by a record keeping system and
accompanying documents or health certificates, and visual markers for animal
proteins and fats intended for destruction.
In practice, food and feed products cannot be derived from BSE suspects, specified
risk materials (SRM) or animals slaughtered over thirty months of age not submitted
to a BSE rapid test. All the potentially infected material in these categories is
destroyed, eliminating any prospect of it entering the food or feed chain.
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Will these controls work and will they be respected?
The Regulation introduces a set of controls, which are as strict as the control
established for the food industry. Furthermore, the use of markers for the
identification of material unfit for human or animal consumption and the availability of
new tests for the detection of prohibited ingredients in animal feed will provide
practical instruments for an effective control.
Unfortunately, the possibility of a criminal act can never be ruled out. This applies to
the animal feed sector as well as to any other sector such as the food industry. But it
lies within the competence of Member States to ensure that the penalties for any
non-compliance are sufficiently strict to ensure respect of the Regulation.
What has the Commission done since the adoption of the Regulation
in October 2002?
The Commission prepared a series of transitional and permanent implementing
measures in order to prepare for and facilitate a swift application of the Regulation on
1 May 2003.
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- Derogation has been granted for the import, transit, trade and export of
Categories 1 and 2 risk materials (hides and skins, rendered fats, intestines
and bones) intended exclusively for technical/industrial uses.
The implementing measures cover…
- A permanent derogation for the intra-species recycling of wild fish to farmed
fish (all Member States)
- A permanent derogation for intra-species recycling of fur animals (Finland)
- A permanent derogation for the feeding of endangered/protected species of
necrophagous (carrion) birds (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain)
- Rules on the burial and burning of animal by-products (all Member States)
- Rules for low capacity incinerators/co-incinerators (all Member States)
- The introduction of technical amendments to the Annexes (all Member
States)Revised models of import health certificates and repealing of old
legislation, which apply on 1 May 2004 (Regulation (EC) No. 668/2004,
Official Journal L 112 of 19.42004, pag.1). The new health certificates are
adapted to an electronic format, allowing for the speedy transfer of trade
documents.
- Health conditions have been established for new products such as collagen,
egg products, tri-calcium phosphate and flavouring innards.
What is next?
The Commission will now focus on preparing further implementing measures,
including:
• Approval of alternative disposal methods
• Introduction of commercial documents and trade related provisions
• Identification of markers (dye)
• Use of organic fertilisers and soil improvers on pastureland and other lands
• Guidance to clarify the link between the Regulation and environmental
legislation.
• Guidance on applying the Regulation.
• Other uses of milk and milk-based products.
• Review of the provisions on fish animal by-products.
• Clarification on the use of former foodstuffs, for example expired bakery
products containing small amounts of eggs and milk.
• Reporting to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation
of the animal by-products Regulation in accordance with Article 35.