China’s feed companies in China are looking to strengthen safety control substantially according to the highest international standard.The first step will be improving the feed safety control in the pre-mixture and compound feed production. The next step will be extending this control to the whole feed supply chain， covering feed ingredients and services like transport and storage. Besides， a joint program will be defined in cooperation with GMP+ International.In this way， the companies wish to comply with the new feed regulations which were established by China Minister of Agriculture at the same day and to contribute to better food safety for the domestic market and for export markets.In late October， the Round Table “Better Feed， Better Life” jointly organised by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands， GMP+ International and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture was held in Beijing. It was organised in response of sharpening of the Chinese feed safety regulations， which was established by Chinese government on the same day. The Chinese feed industry has to cope with the increasing attention for feed and food safety in China and in the export markets for meat， fish and egg products.In the future， feed companies are obliged to apply HACCP and to implement strict traceability and sampling rules， said Wang Xiaohong with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.A new important principle is that companies’ management will be kept fully responsible for the safety of the feed products they deliver to the market. The PR of China’s government supports also the chain oriented approach in order to keep control of the hazards and risks in the whole feed chain， because that will be a new requirement in the revised feed law.The Chinese feed industry is confronted with huge challenges at this moment. Firstly， it is confronted with an unbelievable rapid scaling-up of the Chinese animal husbandry and as a consequence also of the feed industry. At the same time， it aims to upgrade the technical performance level.Secondly， it has to cope with sharpening environmental and feed safety conditions. The top managment of the participating leading Chinese feed companies recognizes his responsibility to contribute to a better feed safety control in a convincing way. Several arguments were raised as following:First， the social responsibility of compa- nies it becoming more important.Second， GMP+ FSA scheme will provide more operational support instead of procedures initiated by general standards like ISO and HACCP. The operational support regards especially the feed safety assessment procedure and to move from feed safety control to feed safety assurance.Third， getting linked to an international scheme covering the whole feed chain add value too.Finally， in response to the call of the Chinese government， the leading companies want to take their responsibility and to act proactive regarding feed safety. It was concluded that， in respect to these aspects， the GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance (FSA) scheme of GMP+ International is valuable and can be useful to make the intended substantial step forwards regarding feed safety assurance.Furthermore， the GMP+ scheme offers Chinese feed companies to get involved in an international certification scheme with more than 11，700 participants in 65 countries. According the Chinese feed companies， this international character of the scheme can add value to Chinese feed companies because they are becoming more and more participant in the globalizing feed market.The result of this round table is a commitment of all participating feed companies to develop a joint program in cooperation with GMP+ International. This effort will be strongly supported by the Chinese and Dutch Ministries of Agriculture and will be carried out in cooperation with the China Feed Industry Association.During the last high level meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture both countries last May， it was decided to cooperate and support each other in developing and improving food and feed safety control.
