May 5, 2014
EFISC drives increased harmonisation of European feed certification
The European Feed Ingredients Safety Certification (EFISC) has made a major step in harmonising feed safety requirements and facilitating trade within the EU internal market with the AIC, GMP+, OVOCOM and QS now mutually recognising EFISC.
Since2010, the EFISC has been cooperating with various feedorganisations includingAgricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), GMP+ (a leading global player in the market of feed safety assurance certification), OVOCOM (a consultation platform for the animal feed chain) and quality system (QS) in order to enable the delivery of products and services into the other respective feed safety scheme.
AIC, GMP+, OVOCOM and QS have signed agreements on mutual recognition with EFISC, which came into forceon May 1, 2014. The mutual recognition agreements will facilitate trade in the EU internal market by providing trust and transparency regarding the certification for the feed manufacturer.
EFISC certified feed material, in compliance with the requirements of version 3.0 of the Code, is considered compliant with the other standards and can be used and purchased by compound feed manufacturers without additional audits for EFISC certified companies. The certification rules of the systems are recognised on a mutual basis. Few additional requirements apply, however, when delivering EFISC certified feed materials to QS or OVOCOM.
"This is an important achievement", said Henry van Sadelhoff, President of EFISC. "It is a real step forward and rewards the considerable work done at European and National level towards increased cooperation, harmonisation of requirements and the strengthening of feed safety assurance".
EFISC, AIC, GMP+, OVOCOM and QSwill further strengthen cooperation by exchange of information, a more systematic sharing of expertise on
technical issues as well as harmonized procedures in case of crisis management involving each other''s certified companies. At least once a year, a consultation meeting shall take place, during which amendments to quality standards, potential improvements, harmonisation, will be discussed.