Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1218

The CODEX Alimetarius Commission's Task Force on Animal Feeding has finalized its proposed international code of practice for good animal feed manufacturing and animal feeding. The proposed code of practice for animal feed manufacturing and animal feeding establishes a feed safety system which spans the entire food chain and is intended to ensure the safety of products from food producing animals.

The proposal was finalized last week and countries involved in the CODEX process now have one last opportunity to comment prior to its final review by the CODEX Alimetarius Commission in June.

Judy Thompson, the head of the Canadian Delegation to the CODEX task force, says the code contains seven sections.

"The first three or four sections provide the objectives, the scope, some definitions of what the various things are and then some motherhood statements around purchasing quality ingredients and making sure things are labeled properly and following label instructions.

Section five deals with manufacturing of feed and feed ingredients and talks about premises, receiving, storage and transportation within the premise and outside the premise, training, sanitation test control, equipment performance and maintenance, manufacturing controls and recalls.

Section six deals with on farm production and use of feed and feed ingredients including pastures and aquaculture type issues, manufacturing of feed on farm, the kind of mixing they would do, pasture grazing.

It's all the things you would think of that relate to feeding in an on farm situation. Section seven deals with sampling and analysis methods, so what kind of sampling method you would use and what the standards are around laboratory methodologies."

Thompson is confident the proposed code, as it stands, is something Canadian feed manufacturers and farmers will be able to live with.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.