The first draft of the ASC Responsible Feed Standard was released for public feedback from June 30 to September 11, 2015. Within this period, 1014 written comment lines where received from 47 different stakeholders.
In addition to written feedback, four in-person workshops where organized (Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Guangzhou and Santiago) to collect feedback. In total 160+ people participated and 59 points of feedback where noted from these workshops. This feedback can be found on the ASC website.
From the feedback it became clear that there is still considerable work to be done on various parts of the Standard. Main points of further attention are, amongst others:
• Whole fish FM/FO requirements (FIPs/IFFO RS/MSC-debate)
• Addressing social issues on fishing vessels supplying raw material for FM/FO.
• Requirements of terrestrial plant crops (besides soy and palm oil)
• Requirements of terrestrial animal ingredients
Consequently the next steps have been discussed within the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Groups are now re-starting in order to process received feedback and develop content for the 2nd draft.
It is expected that this second draft will be available by end Q2-2016. Together with the 2nd draft, pilot audits will be conducted to test the draft standard in the field. Details on the pilot study will be communicated later.
The next SC-meeting will be held April 28 and 29, 2016 in either Brussel or Amsterdam (to be announced on the ASC website). Minutes from this meeting will also be made public via the ASC website as soon as possible.
