Feed costs | European Union considers expanding processed animal proteins into hog and poultry feed
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) — The European Union hopes to ease the cost of protein used to make pig and poultry feed by lifting a ban on byproducts imposed during the BSE outbreak more than a decade ago.
The change would come at a time of heightened consumer concern about food safety in Europe after it was discovered that horse meat had been sold as beef in some products.
Stricter safety rules on processed animal proteins, including intestine, bones, blood and feather, would be imposed when the ban was lifted.
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However, the cost of implementing the new rules and consumer wariness of the risk of another BSE-type outbreak means it is not clear how much the protein would be used.
“We are currently discussing with member states the potential re-authorization of processed animal proteins in feed for poultry and pigs from 2014,” said Tonio Borg, spokesperson for the EU’s health and consumer commissioner.
The use of processed animal proteins, particularly when cattle was fed with feed containing cattle protein, was blamed for the outbreak of BSE in Europe.
A human version, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is believed to be caused by eating beef products contaminated with central nervous system tissue from cattle infected with BSE.
A total of 175 cases of vCJD were registered from 1996-2011 in the United Kingdom, the worst affected country.
The number of cases in the EU fell from 2,167 in 2001 to 45 in 2009 after the byproducts of pig and poultry slaughter were banned in 2000.
Processed animal proteins can be used in pet food in Europe and will also be allowed in fish feed in June.
The next planned step would be to allow them in poultry and pig feed. It would bring Europe back in line with other countries, including the United States, China, Thailand and Australia, where there were no major reported outbreaks of BSE.
In Canada, there is a ban preventing products from ruminant animals being fed to other ruminants. As well, specified risk material, those byproducts most at risk for carrying BSE such as spinal cords and eyes, are prohibited from being used in all animal feed, including pet food and fertilizer.
Under the EU’s proposed changes,processed animal proteins would stay banned in the ruminant sector.
The EU hopes lifting the ban would ease a shortage of cheaper domestically produced protein.
The EU used 49.9 million tonnes of protein source in feed in 2011, but only half of it came from Europe. The rest was imported, with soymeal accounting for 80 percent of those imports.
Soymeal prices doubled over a few months last year because of a drought in the U.S. Producers say animal byproducts are a good alternative and would reduce reliance on expensive imports.
“It is a very good source of protein in terms of nutritional composition and digestibility and thus feed efficiency,” said Leo den Hartog, director of research and development and quality affairs at the Dutch animal nutrition company Nutreco.
The re-authorization would forbid cannibalism and ensure that the byproducts allowed in feed would be from healthy animals slaughtered for human consumption. Animals who die on farms would be used for energy and fertilizer but not in feed.
Scientists say the new controls would also include DNA testing to make sure raw material from chicken and pork do not mix.
This might require separate production lines, which could force the industry to change and push up the cost, said Alexander Doering, secretary general of the EU’s animal feed producers federation.
“The cost in that case will be prohibitive,” he said.
Whether the feed sector will use processed animal proteins once the ban is lifted will depend on price and availability and the extent of consumer concerns, said an industry source.
“All chicken protein currently produced is being used by the pet food sector now. If the ban for compound feed is lifted, there will be even more demand and prices will go up. It will become too expensive,” the source said.
“In addition, there are some concerns on the consumer side, and some supermarkets could decide not to take those products.”
Consumer interest in food safety issues has also been heightened by the recent horse meat scandal, which could make consumers wary of buying food with a link to processed animal proteins.
“If the (European) Commission sticks to its position, the alternative is labelling, and then the consumer will decide,” said Isabelle Thomas, French member of the European Parliament.
