Feed Hygiene Delivery

Unsafe feed not only impacts on the health and welfare of our animals, but also has the potential to contaminate meat that could ultimately threaten public health, compromise the UK trading position and undermine productivity and the economy.

The now infamous foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 started because a single farm fed waste to their animals, leading to 6 million animals being slaughtered and costing the UK economy over £8 billion. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE developed from feeding animal products to livestock.  It resulted in over 3 million animals being infected. This cost the UK economy billions and led to over 200 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans.

National Trading Standards works with local authorities in England, on behalf of the Food Standards Agency, to administer their Feed Delivery Programme. The Food Standards Agency Feed Delivery Programme aims to ensure local authorities deliver official controls for feed in an efficient, consistent and risk based manner, securing continued improvement wherever possible. 

We do this by:

• Overseeing the administration, planning and budget arrangements for Food Standards Agency funded inspections and sampling; by local authorities in England. This includes inland inspections of feed businesses, farms and control activity at points of entry.
• Commissioning on behalf of the Food Standards Agency, enforcement priority projects which are aimed at improving the delivery of feed hygiene controls, promoting consistency, supporting regional collaboration and increasing the use of intelligence.
• Working with participating local authorities to secure information required by the Food Standards Agency to monitor effective delivery of the Feed Delivery Programme as a whole and key policies, such as earned recognition for assurance scheme members.
• Providing secretariat for the National Agriculture Panel and National Animal Feed at Ports Panel who work to resolve issues and develop guidance that support the overall aims of the Feed Delivery Programme.

The Feed Delivery Programme has a hugely successful delivery model that makes the best use of expertise and business knowledge at a local level, while promoting consistency, reducing burdens for responsible businesses and ensuring the UK continues to meet the requirements of international trading agreements.

More information on feed law is available here: www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/farmingfood/animalfeed

Feed Hygiene leaflet - this leaflet explains Trading Standards' role in protecting animals, keeping our food safe and helping businesses to thrive.