The former catalogue, republished in March 2010 as the first version, was outdated with no significant changes since 1996. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed, the E.U. legislator gave the representatives of the E.U. feed chain the mission to propose a more meaningful, up-to-date and comprehensive version of this catalogue in order to raise market transparency on feed materials currently in circulation on the E.U. market for users.
After 18 months of development, 39 E.U. organizations of the feed chain joined efforts to deliver an inventory of more than 500 feed materials – the most frequent on the E.U. market – with clear descriptions so as to ensure full transparency for transactions between feed chain operators, as well as appropriate labeling for end users of feed materials, the E.U. citizens and the public authorities.
The organizations said that it is important to underline that this catalogue of feed materials is not exhaustive; feed materials not listed in the catalogue may be placed on the E.U. market and used. However, in that case, the representatives of the E.U. feed business operators remind operators placing such feed materials on the market that they shall notify them through the online register feed materials (http://www.feedmaterialsregister.eu/).
The catalogue remains a voluntary instrument, however, feed business operators shall comply with the labeling requirements laid down in the catalogue when they use the terms of the catalogue
Further steps are required before E.U. operators of the feed chain can take full benefit of this catalogue, and they include the translation into the E.U. community languages by the E.U. Commission services and the scrutiny by the European Parliament, which is expected to take approximately six months.
CEFS, the European Committee of Sugar Manufacturers, is acting as the voice for all beet sugar manufacturers and cane sugar refiners, covering sugar production in 20 E.U. countries COPA-COGECA is the voice of European farmers and European cooperatives. Together, they ensure that E.U. agriculture is sustainable, innovative and competitive, guaranteeing food security to half a billion people throughout Europe. FEFAC, the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation, represents 21 national Associations in 20 E.U. member states as well as associations in Switzerland, Turkey, Norway, Croatia, Serbia and Russia with observer/associate member status.
