Animal Feeding

Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding (Host Government – Denmark)

An Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding was established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1999 to ensure safety and quality of foods of animal origin by developing guidelines or standards on Good Animal Feeding Practices. The taskforce has now completed work on the Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding. The Code was adopted by the Commission in 2004.

Future work

The 33^rd Session of the Commission agreed to establish a Codex ad hoc Intergovernmental Codex Task Force on Animal Feeding. The Commission agreed to designate the Government of Switzerland to be responsible for appointing the Chairperson of the Task Force in compliance with Rule XI.10 of its Rules of Procedure.

The terms of reference for the ad hoc Task Force are:

(a) The development of guidelines, intended for governments on how to apply the existing Codex risk assessment methodologies to the various types of hazards related to contaminants/residues in feed ingredients, including feed additives used in feedingstuffs for food producing animals. The guideline should include specific science-based risk assessment criteria to apply to feed contaminants/residues.
These criteria should be consistent with existing Codex methodologies.

The guidelines should also consider the need to address the establishment of rates of transfer and accumulation from feed to edible tissues in animal-derived products according to the characteristics of the hazard.

The guidelines should be drawn up in such a way as to enable countries to prioritise and assess risks based upon local conditions, use, exposure of animals and the impact, if any, on human health.

(b) Develop a prioritised list of hazards in feed ingredients and feed additives for governmental use. The list should contain hazards of international relevance that are reasonably likely to occur, and are thus likely to warrant future attention.

In doing so, due consideration should be given to the prioritised list of hazards as recommended by the FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Animal Feed Impact on Food Safety. Clear criteria should be used to prioritise the list of hazards and take account of the potential transfer of contaminants/residues in feed to edible animal products (e.g. meat, fish meat, milk, and eggs).

Existing Codex Standards

A number of standards relating to animal feeding* have been endorsed and adopted into the international food code. They include standards on:

• Reduction of Aflatoxin B1 in Raw Materials and Supplemental Feeding stuffs for Milk-Producing Animals
• Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds
• Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding

* This is an indicative list only. For a full list of standards approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, please consult its Official List of Standards.

Next meeting

The ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding will be held in Bern, Switzerland from 7 – 10 February 2012.