The board of the Product Board Animal Feed has agreed the Protocol for the Monitoring of Heavy Metals in Feed Materials and Feed Additives for the GMP+ Certification Scheme for the Animal Feed Sector 2006 (GMP+:2006). This relates in particular to feed materials and feed additives of mineral origin.

The action was taken in response to the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) report (week 4) that an excess level of cadmium was found in zinc sulphate from China.

PDV says the protocol was already in preparation because it viwed the safety of these products, which are often recovered from the soil, as not sufficiently controlled by way of process control. The decision-making was speeded up because of the RASFF report in question,

The protocol means that all feed materials of mineral origin and feed additives in the functional groups “compounds of trace elements” and “binding agents and anti-coagulants”  must be examined by the supplier or the recipient by way of sampling and analysis for compliance with the norms for heavy metals. Batch control is required because the presence of heavy metals in these products can not be forecast properly. The protocol requires every batch to be clearly defined and identified.

The protocol is part of Appendix 4 “Minimum Requirements for Inspection and Control”. The content of the protocol is available here: http://databases.pdv.nl/documenten/Protocol-UK.pdf