Review: Risk posed by processed animal protein in feed

Investigations are to take place into the BSE risk posed by processed animal protein (PAP) in feed.

Photo: RBI

The European Commission has asked the European Food Safety Authority to gauge the threat to cattle of giving pig PAP to poultry and poultry PAP to pigs and the possible contamination of feed with BSE.

The Commission has argued that since EFSA’s last scientific opinion in 2010/11 the EU BSE epidemiological situation has continued to improve.

The use of PAP in all farmed animal feed was banned in the EU in 2001 amid concerns about its contribution to BSE. But there have been discussions in recent years across the EU about relaxing the ban to allow the feeding of PAP derived from non-ruminants to non-ruminants of a different species, paving the way for it to be permitted in fish feed.

Since 2010 there have been a number of technological advances, according to the Commission, including enhanced laboratory methods used to test feed for the presence of unauthorised constituents of animal origin.

Some poultry organisations have been calling for the reintroduction of PAP products. Three years ago, the British Poultry Council called for their re-introduction in the light of poultry feed prices rising at a higher rate than other livestock feed.

Andrew Large, former BPC chief executive, blamed EU constraints on certain feed sources and called on the removal of the legislative barrier around the ban on feeding animal proteins to farm animals.

EFSA has been asked to respond to the questions by June 2018.