Codex Supports AFIA's and IFIF's Work

Written by: Mallory Gaines   |   July 21, 2021

Standards, Feed safety

After a bit of a setback with COVID-19, Leah Wilkinson and I are back (virtually) to participating in the Codex Committee on Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF) meetings. Recently, we zeroed in on agenda item 3.2, an update from the Food and Agriculture Organization on “carry-over in feed and transfer from feed to food of unavoidable and unintended residues of approved veterinary drugs.” Leah participated as the feed industry representative for the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and I participated as the feed industry representative on the U.S. delegation.  

The debate centered around whether Codex needed to add guidelines to the current Codex text on animal feeding, called the Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding, regarding carry-over of unavoidable and unintended residues of approved veterinary drugs in feed.  

The American Feed Industry Association and IFIF did not feel the Code of Practice needed further editing considering IFIF and FAO just completed work on updating the Good Practices for Feed Sector report, which specifically implements the Codex Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding. We did not want Codex to duplicate its work!  

After a healthy debate, the CCRVDF agreed that no new additions for the Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding were necessary. The document sufficiently recognizes the carry-over of unavoidable and unintended residues of drugs in feed and most importantly, finds the risk of food safety concerns to be low.   

No new work is a win for the global feed industry! The industry has put much time, effort and expertise into both the Codex Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding and the IFIF/FAO Good Practices for the Feed Sector. Both documents are relevant resources, and we are excited to see so many countries support them during CCRVDF.  

For more information on Codex, see the AFIA’s FAQ or read more about it in our blogs.