The 17th annual International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) organized by the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) brought together feed industry representatives and government officials from around the world to discuss critical issues facing the feed sector with IFIF and the FAO.
At the meeting, Ruud Tijssens, IFIF chairman, and Daniela Battaglia from the FAO welcomed IFRM delegates and reiterated their commitment to this longstanding partnership and agreed to continue to strengthen their work together to tackle the challenges facing the feed and food chains. Battaglia reaffirmed the importance of “collaboration between the public and private sector to address the responsibilities of the livestock and feed sectors in a context of the sustainable transformation of agri-food systems worldwide.”
Tijssens highlighted the great importance of this meeting both for industry and government regulators. “It is remarkable to see what has been achieved over the years with this co-operation: for example, unique public-private voluntary guidelines on the assessment of feed ingredients by ICCF, as well as important science-based work on nutritional solutions to reduce the need for antibiotics, which has been developed to make adequate legislation possible.”
Tijssens added that “important subjects such as circular feed and novel ingredients were addressed, and through dialogue, the wisdom of the delegates was mobilized, both from legislators from different countries, scientists and industry partners. We believe that only by working together can we continue to ensure feed, food security, and safety while meeting the global demands for food sustainably.”
“The success of this meeting is proof that FAO’s efforts to facilitate dialogue between the public and private sector are worthwhile and given the current challenges, collaboration among all parties at an international and national level to ensure among others, human and animal health and welfare, and feed and food safety and security is more important than ever,” said Battaglia.
She added that “feed operators can valuably contribute to make the animal production and food sectors more responsible and sustainable and to achieve other important goals such as the containment of antimicrobial resistance and public, animal and environmental health. The IFRM is an important opportunity to exchange ideas among stakeholders from around the world and to coordinate our efforts towards common goals.”
Other topics discussed at the 17th IFRM included a workshop on the safe use of circular feed sources, as well as presentations on feed regulatory updates from Ghana and the European Commission.
