Brussels, 08/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for the authorisation of additives in animal feed within the EU will be opened this Tuesday in Geel (Belgium). It will be located in the premises of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, which is one of the seven institutes of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
Additives used in animal feed to improve productivity and the health of the animals concerned require the approval of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in order to be legally sold, and this follows a scientific assessment of their effects on human health, animal health and the environment. It is up to companies which request authorisation to market these additives to provide the data for the EFSA to analyse.
The Community Reference Laboratory will be responsible for assessing the analytical methods proposed to determine whether additives are present in animal feed and the possible residues of these additives in foodstuffs for human consumption. The methods for analysing residues present in food are particularly important in cases where the authorisation is based on maximum residual quantities in foodstuffs of animal origin. The CRL will also keep reference samples of all authorised additives. It will be assisted in its task by a consortium of laboratories of the Member States of the EU.
In a press release, Louis Michel, Commissioner for Research, said: "human and animal health is of major concern to us all. The new and improved authorisation process for feed additives requires top notch competence and research capacity. I am confident that the IRMM has what it takes to carry out these tasks". David Byrne, Commission for Health and Consumer Protection, stressed that "the strengthening of rules on the safety of animal feed was once of the cornerstones of the EU's integrated approach to the food chain in recent years".