Animal food must show ingredients
Animal food must show ingredients
BAGS of compound animal feed will have to display accurate percentages of all ingredients used, under a new compromise deal between the European parliament and farm council.
The two institutions had been at loggerheads for several months over just how much information to make available in the wake of the BSE crisis.
While the parliament had wanted feed manufacturers to display exact percentages of each and every ingredient, the council favoured a slightly more relaxed approach, with the contents declared within 5% bands.
But now it has been agreed that compounders should give the percentage content of each raw material to within 15% accuracy. "This will give farmers clear information about what they feed to their animals," said EU food safety commissioner, David Byrne.
Anyone requiring more precise information will be able to contact an address that will be put on feed labels when the regulation comes into force in two years time. *