Ten years of EFSA’s FEEDAP Panel and its main achievements

The inauguration of the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) early in 2003 coincided with the introduction of new and extensively revised legislation in the form of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 controlling the use of feed additives in the European Union (EU). Inevitably this legislation has had a defining effect on the range and extent of the work undertaken by the Panel. For the first time this Regulation included groups of feed additives not previously assessed, such as those designed to improve ensiling or to reduce the uptake of mycotoxins. Many hundreds of flavouring substances never assessed before are also foreseen for “re-evaluation”. The scope of the work undertaken by the FEEDAP Panel is extremely broad and derives both from the range of materials used as additives and the scope of the assessment required by the legislation. Thus additives may range from mineral clays to micro-organisms and from colourants to coccidiostats. For each, the legislation requires an assessment of safety for the target animal, for consumers of products derived from treated animals, for the environment and for those handling the additive during feed processing or on-farm and is also required the assessment of efficacy . During these nine years, the Panel has made considerable efforts to provide applicants with guidance documents to help them in the preparation of the dossier and with the aim of increasing transparency to set the basis for the assessment to be made by the Panel.