Leading feed companies in China have agreed to improve substantially feed safety control in accordance with the highest international standards.
The first step will be improving feed safety assurance in pre-mixtures and compound feed production. The next step will be to extend this control to the whole feed supply chain, covering feed ingredients and services like transport and storage. A joint program will be defined in cooperation with GMP+ International. In this way, the feed companies want to comply with the new feed regulations which were established by China Minister of Agriculture at the same day and to contribute to better food safety for the domestic market and for export markets.
On 26 October 2011, the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, GMP+ International and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture organized the Rabobank International sponsored round table "Better Feed, Better Life" in Beijing. The management of the top 10 feed companies in China ( Charoen Pokphand, China Animal Husbandry Group, Cofco, Haid, New Hope, Liuhe Group, Wens, Welhope, Nutreco, Sonac and JZDD) were active participants along with EU representatives and the China Feed Industry Association. This round table was co-ordinated with the establishment of tighter Chinese feed safety regulations, which were set out by the Chinese government on the same day. The Chinese feed industry has to cope with increasing attention on feed and food safety in China and in the export markets for meat, fish and egg products.
Mr. Wang Xiaohong of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture emphasized that in the future feed companies will be obliged to apply HACCP and to implement strict traceability and sampling rules. A new important principle is that companies' management will be made fully responsible for the safety of the feed products they deliver to the market. China's government supports a chain oriented approach in order to control hazards and risks throughout the whole feed chain. This is a new requirement in the revised feed law.
The Chinese feed industry is confronted with huge challenges. Firstly, it is faced with an unbelievably rapid scaling-up of the Chinese livestock industry and consequently the feed industry. At the same time, it wants to upgrade technical performance level. Secondly, it has to cope with sharpening environmental and feed safety requirements. The top management of the participating leading Chinese feed companies recognize their responsibility to contribute to better feed safety control in a convincing way.
Several discussion points were raised. Firstly, the increasing importance of social responsibility of companies, Secondly, the GMP+ FSA scheme will provide more operational support instead of procedures initiated by general standards like ISO and HACCP. Operational support applies especially to feed safety assessment procedures and the move from feed safety control to feed safety assurance. Thirdly, linking to an international scheme covering the whole feed chain adds value, too. Finally, in response to the call of the Chinese government, the leading companies want to take their responsibility and to act proactive regarding feed safety. It was concluded that the GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance (FSA) scheme of GMP+ International is a valuable means to meet these objectives and can be useful in achieving the intended substantial step forwards regarding feed safety assurance.
Furthermore, the GMP+ scheme offers Chinese feed companies the opportunity to get involved in an international certification scheme with more than 11,700 participants in 65 countries. According the Chinese feed companies, this international character of the scheme can add value to Chinese feed companies because they are participating increasingly in the globalized feed market.
The result of this round table is a commitment by all participating feed companies to develop a joint program in cooperation with GMP+ International. This effort will be strongly supported by the Chinese and Dutch Ministries of Agriculture and will be carried out in cooperation with the China Feed Industry Association. During the last high level meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of both countries last May, it was decided to cooperate and support each other in developing and improving food and feed safety control.
