April 1, 2011
German feed mills to have harsher requirements
German feed mills have to fulfill stricter requirements after the dioxin scandal, Agriculture Minister, Ilse Aigner, said when she introduced a new draft regulation this week.
German feed sector accuses her of political activism.
The regulation security and transparency foresees a licensing obligation for companies and more stringent requirements regarding self-control.
Feed fats and oils and industrial or technical fats industry are no longer allowed to be processed in the same facility. This is to decrease the possibility of both types of fat to be mixed inadvertently.
Such mixing occurred at Harles & Jentzsch in Uetersen and it was deemed to be the cause of the dioxin scandal that hit Germany in January. Around 5,000 farms were blocked and meat and eggs were taken from the shelves in many supermarkets.
Next step from Aigner in getting a better grip on cases such as the previous one are a dioxin early-warning system and better consumer information.
The German feed manufacturers, united in DVT, accused the agriculture ministry of political activism. "Most measures were disproportionate and hardly feasible," said President Helmut Wulf.
"When processing the historical facts in future plans, all links in the feed chain need to focus on control and risk assessment within the manufacturing process. There is no room for political activism, but the key should be real improvement of feed safety."
DVT thinks the proposals will lead to a flood of individual data which provide more bureaucracy, but less security. Besides that, an individual approach was worthless, because it would distort competition in the EU internal market.