The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health at the European Commission has adopted a series of transitional and permanent implementing measures in preparation for the application of the Animal By-Products Regulation on 1 May this year. The new regulation lays down clear rules on what must and what may be done with animal materials that are excluded from the food chain.
The move is a direct regulatory reaction to the recent food crises to hit Europe, most notably BSE and dioxin contamination, that left in their wake struggling farmers as well as seeds of doubt over food safety in the mind of the consumer.
"The regulation sets out a transparent, comprehensive and directly applicable legal framework. The transitional and permanent measures adopted will facilitate its swift implementation," said David Byrne, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.
The key objective of the regulation is to revamp veterinary legislation on animal by-products - parts of a slaughtered animal that are not consumed by humans - in order to maintain its fundamental objectives to ensure a high level of protection of animal and human health in Europe. This includes rules on new disposal options such as transformation of the materials into biogas. Only material derived from animals declared fit for human consumption following veterinary inspection may be used for the production of animal feed. Swill feeding (catering waste) will be banned for farmed animals except fur animals. The regulation also prohibits 'cannibalism' within species.
The regulation classifies animal by-products into three categories based on their potential risk to animals, the public or the environment and sets out how each category must or may be disposed of. High-risk Category 1 materials must be completely disposed of as waste by incineration or landfilling after appropriate heat treatment while lower risk Category 2 materials may be recycled for uses other than feed - biogas, composting, oleo-chemical products - after appropriate treatment. Only Category 3 materials - by-products derived from healthy animals slaughtered for human consumption - may be used in the production of animal feeds.
As the dust just starts to settle on the issue of BSE and dioxin contamination, it is clearly in the interest of politician, farmer, food industry member and farmer that the new regulations are rigorously implemented and staunchly controlled - the errors of our past must not come back to haunt us.