General legal provisions for the production of animal fat are laid down in the General Food Law (Regulation 178/2002/EC). This regulation puts conditions to all producers of foods and animal feed. The feed that companies deliver should be safe to the animal consuming the feed and to the humans consuming food from food-producing animals. To accomplish this, companies have to apply hygiene provisions in the area of facilities and equipment, personnel, production, quality control, storage and transport and record keeping and they are to set up a system based on HACCP principles (Regulation 852/2004/EC and 183/2005/EC).
To support companies in implementing these rules, MVO set up risk analyses of the feed chains of animal fats and animal proteins in close cooperation with the European Fat Processing and Rendering Organisation (EFPRA). The risk analyses were conducted for fats and proteins from:
These risk analyses list the safety hazards that may occur throughout the production chains, from transport of animals to the slaughter house until the delivery of the processed animal by-product (fat, meal) to the feed industry. MVO and EFPRA are currently working on risk analyses of the food chain. The risk analyses indicate the level of risk that each hazard will pose to feed safety and whether that is to be controlled by a measure as part of a prerequisite programme (PRP) or by a critical control point (CCP). The risk analyses list applicable legal and trade limits and they formulate necessary measures that need to be taken to reduce the hazards to acceptable levels.
The methodology document explains the procedure that was followed in setting up the risk analyses.
More information regarding rules and controls in the animal fat sector is available from the website 'Informatiecampagne dierlijk vet'.