FAO carrying out survey on contaminants in feed

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is seeking industry feedback and data on potential contaminants in feed.

The international body facilitates a feed safety multi-stakeholder partnership.

The objective of the survey is to take stock, said the FAO. It wants to collect currently available data on all kind of contaminants in feed, from all regions in the world and in all languages.

“We encourage all stakeholders working along the food and feed chain, on a local, regional, national or international level, to fill out this short survey, and most importantly to upload available fact sheets or provide an URL to online available material.”

It said the survey takes only a few minutes to fill out. It can be accessed here.  

Background

Feed can be subject to contamination through chemical, microbiological and physical hazards, said the FAO. “Hazards can occur naturally in the environment but also in industrial production processes. Environmental pollution and mishandling are causes of feed contamination. Contaminated feed can have severe negative impacts on animal health and welfare and human health.”

Contaminants in feed exist globally, but occurrence of hazards and the risk of feed contamination differ geographically, said the organization.

“The availability of information on contaminants also varies among geographic regions, which is why it is important to consolidate available information into brief fact sheets for easy dissemination.”