Press Release: Animal feed: Commission proposal to exclude condemned animal material from the feed chain

The proposal adopted by the European Commission on 19.10.00, is one of the key actions of the White Paper on Food Safety and a major step towards preventing feed-borne food crises such as BSE and dioxin contamination. The proposed Regulation prohibits the recycling of fallen stock and condemned animal material in animal feed. The only animal material allowed to be used for the production of animal feed would then be material derived from animals declared fit for human consumption following veterinary inspection. This will further reduce any risk of disease transmission and the risk of presence of residues in animal feed. Clear rules are set out for what must and may be done with the animal materials that are excluded from the feed chain and new options are included such as transformation of the material into bio-gas. The proposal sets out a transparent, comprehensive and directly applicable legal framework, replacing and simplifying a multitude of scattered veterinary directives and decisions which have developed over more than a decade in response to internal market requirements and crisis situations.

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