In order to ensure safety in the food chain and human and animal health, feed is tested for its properties and the feed manufacturing process is monitored. Both livestock feed and pet food are monitored; in Austria about 3,000 feed samples are taken annually.
The Federal Office for Food Safety (BAES) is the competent authority for feed control in commercial production and placing on the market. The Länder (provincial governors) are responsible for monitoring the production, use and feeding of feed on agricultural holdings. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW) is the supreme authority in Austria in the field of feed control and coordinates the tasks of the Länder and the Federal Office.
The multi-annual integrated risk-based control plan(MIK) is the basis for feed control and defines the number of samples to be taken (sampling and/or conformity checks), the number of farms to be controlled and the farm inspections to be carried out (journeys) as well as all necessary activities and intended measures in connection with the control, in addition to the number of samples to be taken (sampling and/or conformity checks).
During the company inspections, documents and records, various production processes, compliance with hygiene standards and the implementation of the principle of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) are checked.
In order to prevent the deception of buyers, labels, bag tags and accompanying documents are checked for proper labelling. The manufacture of feedingstuffs must be traceable; it must be clear from the manufacturers' documentation where they obtained the raw materials and where they sold their products.
After the analysis of the feed sample or labelling, the evaluation and interpretation of the result is carried out by the Institute for Animal Nutrition and Feed in the AGES.
Checklisten
On the basis of the project "RIK - Risiko basierter Kontrollplan" (RIK - Risk-based Control Plan), nationwide uniform checklists for the control of specific feed business operators were drawn up. These are used in feed inspections by the Federal Office and the Länder and are also intended to serve as guidelines for feed production. Here you can see what is particularly important during the inspection.