Feed hygiene regulations - who has to register?

Feed Hygiene Regulations EC183/2005 and The Feed (Hygiene And Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2005

The Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005) came into effect on 1 January 2006. It applies to businesses that make, use, transport, store or sell animal feeds. This includes most livestock farms, arable farms that grow, use or sell crops for feed use, and also fish farms, feed hauliers, importers of feed and feed storage businesses.

The previous legislation applying to farmers that mixed feeds containing additives on the farm and manufacturers and sellers of feed of certain feed additives has been replaced. (Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999).

The regulations require that all businesses will have to follow basic hygiene procedures in relation to feed that they grow, use, store, transport or manufacture to ensure that hazards are controlled. The majority of these requirements will already be in place and are generally very similar to the conditions imposed by the Establishments and Intermediaries Regulations.

The controls required include measures to:-

• Prevent feed contamination.
• Keep equipment for mixing, transporting and storing clean.
• Record the feed manufactured, used and or sold.
• All livestock farmers will have to follow a code of practice for the feeding of food producing animals.

Who needs to notify?
Farms already registered with the local authority under the Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999 must notify their local authority by 1 January 2006 if they wish to continue their feed mixing activities. In Shropshire we have written to all our registered farmers enclosing a form asking them to notify us of their current type of activities. These businesses have to comply with the requirements of the new regulations from 1 January 2006.

Who needs to register?
Manufacturers and sellers of feed materials and compound feed manufacturers (not using additives), all feed haulage companies, feed stores and feed merchants need to register with the local authority and should be complying with the requirements of the new regulations from the 1 January 2006.

Businesses selling by products from the food industry for animal feed, other farms with livestock, fish farms and arable farms that grow, use or sell feed do not need to register with their local authority to continue their activities as long as they are registered under another official scheme. If they are not registered on an official scheme then farmers need to register with the local authority. To register you need to fill in a registration form (attached to this page) and return it to us.

Many farms will be registered under an official scheme for grant purposes. Farms in this category will need to comply with the new requirements by 1 January 2008.

All Shropshire based feed business operators that had to register by 1 January 2006 under the Feed Hygiene legislation now need to notify this service that they are complying with the requirements.

If your establishment is based in Shropshire, follow the link on this page for a standard form, to make your statement of compliance. Please download the form, complete it, sign it and then post it back to us. (Original signatures are required).

Farmers should complete Form A and all other feed business operators (e.g. merchants, haulage firms, food producers supplying for animal feed) should complete Form B. These forms are attached to this page.

If you require any further details you can read the information leaflets 'Information on Compliance Statements' and 'Information on Animal Feed Hygiene for Farmers' which are attached to this page.

What activities are not covered?

• Feeding of animals kept for private domestic consumption.
• Feeding of animals not kept for food production.
• Private domestic production of feed for food producing animals kept for private domestic consumption and for animals not kept for food production.
• The direct supply of small quantities of primary production of feed at local level by the producer to local farms for use on those farms.
• Retailing and wholesaling of pet food only (other animal feed sellers will need to register).

The Agriculture Act 1970, provides for an exemption of less than 25kg packages, but there is no definition of ‘small quantities’ in the new regulations.

Businesses carrying out these activities do not need to be approved or registered.

Further information can be found on the FSA website or the European Union website has a copy of the regulation. The standards which apply to primary producers are detailed in Annex 1 of the regulation and annex 3 provides the detail of the code of practice for feeding food producing animals.

Annex 2 details the requirements for manufacturers, hauliers, merchants and farms buying in and using feed additives and premixtures as such will have to apply the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system).

AMI - Animal Medicine Inspectorate formally known as RPSGB (Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain)

If you mix zootechnical additives, e.g. Antibiotics, coccidiostats, growth promoters etc., you must apply for approval with the RPSGB.

This is not an authoritative statement of the law. It is intended for guidance only. Reference must be made to the legislation for more detailed information. For further information/advice please contact us.

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