Swiss chickens and pigs could be fed PAPs once more
Last month saw the country’s Federal Department of Home Affairs send out proposed legislative amendments on the use of PAPs in feed for monogastric animals.
Feed for poultry and pigs could contain such protein sources from pigs and poultry, respectively, subject to well-defined conditions. The legislation also allows for the use of processed insect protein in pig and poultry feed.
The review period runs until December 15.
The legislative amendment had been requested in several parliamentary interventions as a way to foster sustainability in the country’s agriculture and food industries, as first noted in a report from SwissInfo.
The new rules would maintain equivalence with European law.
There had been a ban on the use of PAPs in animal diets in the EU and in Switzerland since 2001, following the BSE crisis. However, in the EU, that sanction was lifted to allow their use in fish feed in 2013, and, in August 2021, the EU Commission adopted a decision to amend the feed ban regulation, allowing the use of PAPs and insects in feed for non-ruminant farmed animals such as pigs and poultry.
A requirement of the EU regulation on the use of PAPs is that a mill must be completely dedicated to either poultry or pig feed.
Early adopters
Dutch group, AgruniekRijnvallei (AR), was the first EU compound feed supplier to start processing porcine meal for use in poultry feeds, in March 2022, with a handful more mills in Germany and the Netherlands doing the same in the months thereafter. ForFarmers was also an early adopter of PAPs in feed.
In February this year, a spokesperson for the European Fat Processors and Renderers Association (EFPRA) told this site that while there is increasing use of PAPs in European feed formulations, market and regulatory constraints are still proving a barrier to greater take-up of those ingredients within that sector.
There are around 2.8m tons of PAPs available for use in Europe, said the representatives of the EU rendering sector.
The pet food sector remains the dominant market, the fertilizer segment is also key and aqua feed usage is continually growing, currently hitting around 250,000 tons per annum, with that sector showing a preference for feather meal and poultry meal in terms of PAP components.
However, one third of EU PAP production still goes towards the export market.
Swiss feed industry association (VSF) data showed its members produced 746,000 tons of compound feed, protein concentrates and feed additives in 2022, which corresponded to an increase in sales of 2.5%. The largest share produced was for pigs, at 39%, followed by ruminants, at 31%, and poultry, at 27%.
