Overview of the EWS notifications January through August 2017

An analysis of the EWS notifications / cases to date, resulted in the following interesting conclusion:

Feed materials and microbiological hazards dominate 

More than three quarters of the notifications to date concerned feed materials. That is not very surprising, since weather conditions are uncontrollable.

In feed materials, the number of notifications about microbiological hazards (mainly Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae) increased: from 38 notifications in 2016 to 49 notifications in 2017. The most issues with Salmonella in feed materials occurred in rapeseed and byproducts thereof (14 notifications) and soy byproducts (9 notifications). The most issues with Enterobacteriaceae in feed materials occurred in (feed) whey (10 notifications).

Causes of contamination

In half of the notifications of unsafe feed, the cause of the contamination was found:

• In 47 notifications, the cause was in the immediate control of the feed company (category ‘‘Processing – inside feed company’). This concerns notifications in which the contamination arose somewhere in the production process. This can be in the cultivation (for instance by the use of pesticides), processing (for instance by a machine leakage) or during transport and storage (for instance by cross-contamination) of the relevant product;
• 23 notifications had a natural cause;
• In 1 notification, human error was the cause;
• In 1 notification, the cause was beyond the immediate control of the feed company (category ‘Processing – outside feed company’). This can be in the sampling of the relevant product or analysis of the sample.

In the other notifications (67 notifications: 48.2%) the cause of the contamination was not found. These are notifications in which investigation did not reveal a cause. This also concerns notifications in which, the feed did not turn out to be unsafe. It concerns situations in which the contamination was not confirmed by the counter analysis, the product limit was not exceeded or in which there was no product limit.

Have you seen the EWS app of GMP+ International?
The app alerts companies involved, by means of warnings, about current dangers and risks in the market. The app is a next step to facilitate companies to an optimal extent in producing safe feed for everyone, across the globe.

In addition, the EWS app can be used to submit a notification. In just a few steps, you can submit the right information to both GMP+ International and your certification body. The app also allows you to easily attach photos and documents.

The app can be downloaded for both iOS and Android smartphones – search for ‘EWS Notifier’ in your store.