April 13, 2009
Finland mulls changes on animal feed legislation
Finland''s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sirkka-Liisa Anttila is contemplating on amending animal feed measures the light of the recent outbreak of salmonella originating from a feed plant.
The upgrading of animal feed laws is aimed to process soy for chicken and swine feed in a way that they are clean of salmonella already before getting into production. Much of the soy used as a source of protein in the feed is contaminated by salmonella despite a clean factory area.
Finland is classified as a salmonella-free area in the European Union, and the recent outbreak does not change this, says Maria Teirikko of the Finnish Food Safety Authority (EVIRA). Teirikko stated that there have been no breaches of safety regulations at Raisio Feed that officials would need to react to.
Infected feed was the medium in the salmonella spread to a number of chicken and pig farms. So far, salmonella infection has been detected in 31 egg farms and ten pork farms. The contamination led to several slaughter at the infected farms as well as disinfection of the facilities.
The infected feed was manufactured on production line seven at Raisio Feed, which produces about 2 percent of all feed used in Finland. Matti Aho, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, says that salmonella is eliminated if the feed is heated sufficiently during production. At the Raisio plant, the temperature was probably not raised high enough.
Raisio CEO Matti Rihko says that the constant pressure caused by the risk of salmonella applies to the entire animal feed industry, adding that they implementing salmonella tests twice as required.