AFIA builds Safe Feed/Safe Food Alliance
Representatives of the American Feed Industry Association and FEFANA, the Feed Additives and Premixtures Association of the European Union, recently signed an agreement that will permit auditors of AFIA’s third-party certification program, Safe Feed/Safe Food, to inspect U.S. manufacturers for compliance with European feed hygiene and ingredient standards.
The agreement will facilitate U.S. trade with European feed and ingredient customers. The agreement was signed during the joint International Feed Expo-International Poultry Expo in Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 26, 2009. Specifically, the agreement will allow the European Feed Additives and Premixtures-Quality System, or FAMI-QS, which is FEFANA’s version of AFIA’s SF/SF program, to train Facility Certification Institute auditors, per FAMI-QS requirements. AFIA agreed to grant reciprocity for firms in FAMI-QS since the program has the same components of the SF/SF program. The key difference between the AFIA and FEFANA programs is FAMI-QS recognition of EU Regulation (EC) 183/2005, which requires Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points principles be implemented in feed and feed ingredient facilities.
Additionally, this new agreement has the potential to affect both U.S. importers and exporters of feeds and feed ingredients in two ways: First, it offers a tool for validating EU regulatory compliance for exporters; second, under the U.S. government’s Food Protection Plan, firms importing under recognized third-party certification systems will be prioritized for incoming inspections based on a risk-ranking approach.
AFIA and FEFANA representatives currently are in the midst of planning the logistics of training FCI auditors to inspect U.S. firms based on FAMI-QS requirements. AFIA hopes to have the program accepting applications by late summer of 2009.
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AFIA
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