A global perspective

Dieter Greissinger discusses the effect of globalisation on the feed to food chain.

Why does globalisation drive safety and quality issues in the feed to food chain?

Dieter Greissinger. Free global trade is regarded as a key element of economic wealth. With respect to the feed to food chain, we can have access to new markets and globally source new raw materials and products. But we can as well face or create new risks. Any event that is taking place at a certain place in the world may be of impact anywhere else in the world and initiate a chain reaction of crisis media attention and/or consumer concern of much higher dimension than before. The development of feed safety systems is not only influenced by local feed regulation and the number of feed and food scandals, but also by increasing international trade.

Developing countries also suffer from recent feed crises and started to establish regulatory frameworks including measures to ensure feed and food safety. However, when regulations or local quality standards are in an early state of evolution, rules change frequently, teething troubles occur and large deviations or even conflicting requirements compared to other countries may be in force.

Does that mean global standards are necessary?

DG. A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for the global feed industry as there are various types of processes involved and one can not simply impose standards and expectations of developed countries on lesser developed areas which would only increase costs of food and make it unaffordable for the poor. Export activities of third countries have to be seen differently, since they have to meet the standard of the destination to keep the same level of safety, quality and efforts needed for imported and domestic products. The benefit of globally harmonised standards, and eventually globally harmonised feed regulation, is clear: as real guidance for operators they provide reliability, trouble free access to markets and high reputation.

Are there conflicting targets for feed producers?

DG. Consumers need trust to benefit from a global range of goods and opportunities, but the significance of quality attributes has shifted over the time from e.g. nutritional and technical quality to safety. Now, climate change, ethical concerns and animal welfare as well as taste and affordability and now all aspects of sustainability and the environmental impact of livestock production are the focus of consumers and stakeholders in developed countries. For a considerable part of the population in less developed countries, the main concern is however still food security. And this is a topic gaining much more relevance in the future. Responding to the population growth, new nutritional concepts are needed and this has to be achieved without jeopardising feed and food safety. We will need an intensification of the food production, efficient processing and distribution, and we will see new technologies and ingredients for example by-products of various industries or new plant varieties. However, these new developments also carry sufficient risk for new potential hazards and potential safety problems.

So how should regulators and the operating feed industry act?

DG. For the regulators and operators within the chain, it is easier to fulfil quality and safety requirements with close communication. The industry usually responds quickly to challenges and there will be a tendency for vertical integration, long-term contracts and less spot market transaction as can already be observed for the meat market and for retailers. Authorities and legislators - as well as to a certain extend associations - are usually not so fast due to their inherent system of consensus finding. However, harmonisation is requested on this level as well.

It is important to adopt feed and food regulations to local conditions, but it will be more important in future to enable a free international food supply chain to secure not only feed and food safety but also global food security.

At Evonik Degussa our concept of preventive action is that of an Integrated Management System that includes ISO 9001 as a management system basis, ISO 14001 to cover environmental questions, FAMI-QS to meet feed safety and regulatory needs, ISO 14040 to respond to growing interest in life cycle assessment and a further set of internal rules to meet upcoming ethical and sustainability issues.

Biography

With a PhD in Chemistry, Dieter Greissinger started his professional career with Marketing of Pharmaceutical Ingredients. Now, in his current position as VP Quality and Regulatory Compliance for Evonik's Health and Nutrition Unit, he looks back on more than 20 years experience from various technical and managerial functions in the feed additive industry.