In 2008, the meat sector on the island of Ireland was rocked by a dioxin contamination scandal. In its wake, however, a strong platform for animal feed assurance has grown. The Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association (NIGTA) believes this could pave the way for an enhanced programme of assurance right along the food chain.
“While the dioxin contamination did not arise from a feed business, it did highlight the need for effective assurance for all feed inputs. It raised a lot of questions about how risks in the food chain were being managed,” says Robin Irvine, Chief Executive of NIGTA.
“The industry looked to the feed sector as the first link in the food chain. This is where some of these serious contaminations will come in, so it was important to have an effective programme to de-risk the materials supplied to livestock farms.”
Co-ordinated testing
NIGTA turned to Professor Chris Elliott, Director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast for help. His team found that animal feeds were being tested for contaminants, but not in a concerted way across the sector.
“We realised that if we could develop a strategic approach whereby we co-ordinate testing to ensure we get coverage every month of the different feed materials, contaminants and geographic spread, then pool the information and make it available to everybody, that would be a massive win for the industry,” says Robin.
Out of this grew Food Fortress, a feed assurance project. Member companies submit feed samples that are combined and tested for contaminating levels of mycotoxins, aflatoxins, dioxins, heavy metals and pesticide residues. “In 99 cases out of 100, that screen gives you the reassurance that everything is safe,” says Robin. “Every so often a signal will come up and we identify the sample with a potential issue.”
Buy-in from business
This composite-sample approach brings down the cost of testing and also generates a bigger picture for the industry, he explains. Businesses have signed up in large numbers – the pilot scheme of 18 in 2014 has grown to 69 on the island of Ireland and in Britain, and now covers 100% of the compound feed consumed in Northern Ireland.
“It gives me confidence that we have a grasp on the whole industry, that there is not something nasty lurking out there,” he says. “Every month, we have another tranche of results coming through, giving us a regular update on the background challenges.”
Model for the food chain
Robin believes this model can be applied across other sections of the food chain. “The best development would be for businesses all along the line to adopt and adapt this, to apply the basic principles to their processes to manage the risks,” he says.
Meanwhile, the Food Fortress project is also strengthening the relationship between the feed sector and the agencies that oversee food safety, notes Robin.
“That is what really pleases us – we are working with the regulators, sharing information and dealing effectively with the issues that arise,” he says. “The feeling now is that we all have the same end goal in mind. We need to protect our businesses, we need to protect the food chain and we are all looking and traveling in the same direction.
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