CONFERENCE 2009

Feedingstuffs quality and safety – current requirements

On 7-8 September 2009 in Zakopane the 26th International Scientific and Technological Conference on “Feedingstuffs quality and safety – current requirements” took place. It was organised by the National Research Institute of Animal Production, the National Laboratory for Feedingstuffs in Lublin, and the National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy. The objective of the conference was to present to feedingstuffs producers, veterinary inspectors and the staff of the Veterinary Hygiene Institute the current requirements on the quality and safety assessment of feedingstuffs and their application in animal nutrition in the light of national and international research results. Among the lecturers there were research workers of the University of Agriculture in Kraków, the University of Warmia and Mazury, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, the National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy, and the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Kraków. Also research workers from abroad took part in the conference: from the State Research and Control Institute of Veterinary Preparations and Feed Additives in Lviv, the Zootechnical Institute UAAN in Kharkiv (Ukraine) and Piotr Robouch, PhD from the Community Reference Laboratory for Feed Additives at the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel, Belgium, who presented a very interesting lecture on “Feed additives – laboratory research and registration process”.

In relation to the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009, published in EU Official Journal (OJ L 229/1) on 1 September, on the placing on the market and use of feed, amending Regulation (EC) No. 1831/2003 and repealing Directives 79/373/EEC, 80/511/EEC, 82/471/EEC, 83/228/EEC, 93/74/EEC, 93/113/EC and 96/25/EC and Decision 2004/217/EC, the problems regulated by this ruling met with lively response among participants and was an object of sessions and unofficial discussions. Examples of problems in question included a planned catalogue of feed materials and a need for putting characteristic feed materials applied in our country on this list, and new tolerance limits for nutrients and feed additives, which can be difficult to be met in terms of current validation characteristics concerning research methods of active substances and some feed additives (Annex 4).

The main objectives and theses of the conference concern the presentation of current research and practical problems in the field of feedingstuffs quality and safety in terms of their production and application in animal nutrition. Besides the abovementioned issues, the problems under discussion concerned, inter alia, the results of official feedingstuffs inspection and the evaluation of the feed-products manufacturing process through the assessment of component placement homogeneity. The specific problems of risk assessment and analysis in feed production and sales were also presented. Much attention was devoted to feedingstuffs research methods, method validation and the interpretation of feedingstuffs research results, especially with reference to microbiological threats. A lot was said about feed-material quality – a key element influencing the quality of mixed feeds.

The representatives of feedingstuffs producers and the staff of veterinary inspectorates and Veterinary Hygiene Institute laboratories took part in the conference. The representatives of the following companies presented their offers: Foss Polska, Itochu Corporation S.A., and Rettenmaier Polska Sp. z o.o. The representatives of Itochu Corporation S.A. provided participants with the Ajinomoto Eurolysine S.A.S. No. 32 leaflet (special edition – November 2008) translated into Polish, the Eurolysione S.A.S. Nutritionist Handbook entitled “Measurement and estimation of amino acids in feed raw materials”. The remaining companies presented their products on stands.

Lectures were accompanied by great interest in the conference subjects, which was proved by lively discussions and questions. Some problems and questions raised during the conference will be presented in the next edition of Pasze Przemysłowe (Industrial Feedingstuffs). However, not always definitive answers could be found. Solving some of the problems will require additional analyses and agreements. Nevertheless, the opportunity to meet people interested in this topic, to share experience, and to “unofficially” consider problems nagging the minds of feedingstuffs producers, the staff of Veterinary Hygiene Institute laboratories and Veterinary Inspectorates were all of great importance. The need for searching for solutions, which are confirmed and justified by recognised scientific research, was emphasised. It was stated that such meetings need to be continued. Reports and findings presented at the conference have been published as conference materials and selected problems will be published as monographs.