Scotland’s new model for animal feed delivery

From 1 April 2021, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) will take on formal responsibility for making sure feed businesses comply with laws aiming to ensure that feed for animals is safe.

FSS will pick up this role (and become the ‘Competent Authority’) from Scottish local authorities which have been responsible for delivering the service, delivering official controls (statutory duties with regard to the production of food all along the supply chain) to date.

FSS will provide additional support and funding to organisations involved in this important work and, under new regulations laid in the Scottish Parliament, will be able to delegate functions to other qualified organisations to help with delivery.  

FSS intends to delegate routine official controls such as inspections and sampling to local authorities who have capacity to deliver. Confirmation of the participating local authorities and the areas they will cover, are available on the FSS website.

FSS has consulted widely with local authorities and industry stakeholders and there is broad support for this new delegation model, which will help maintain the skills and knowledge of local authority officers and maintain the benefits of local knowledge.

FSS Workstream Manager – Animal Feed Delivery, Jacqui Angus, said:

“The safety and quality of animal feed is vital for preventing hazards from entering the food chain and affecting public health, as well as protecting animal welfare.

“Effective inspections and analysis of feed products and processes, to ensure these requirements are met is therefore paramount.

“The new feed model is designed to optimise the performance of feed enforcement through maintaining local authority experience and skills where appropriate, as well as adding FSS support and funding where needed.

“We would like to thank everyone for their input, which has resulted in the development of the infrastructure necessary to support the roll out of the new model.”

As a result of the transfer of competence, FSS significantly bolstered its animal feed team last year, which has allowed for the roll out of a series of support measures to local authorities in recent months.

Some of this activity includes training events across Scotland covering feed labelling, feed sampling, and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) Level 3, as well as sampling grants, allowing local authorities to submit samples for analysis, to test for contaminants and undesirable substances. 

Scotland has world-leading food and feed standards right along the supply chain and as we move into a post-EU period, FSS is focussed on building on our nation’s reputation for excellence in food and feed supply and its assurance