I wish to inform the Deputy that EU Directive 95/69/EC, as transposed into Irish legislation by SI 88 of 1999, provides for control measures in the area of production, transport, storage and handling of animal feed. This legislation has now been strengthened significantly with the introduction of EU Regulation 183/2005 which lays down additional rules for feed hygiene. The majority of this new regulation will come into effect on 1 January 2006.
The new legislation, which complements both Regulation 178/2002 on the general principles in food law and Regulation 882/2004 on official feed and food controls requires all feed businesses, including primary producers — farmers — to be either registered or approved, depending on their activities; operators, other than farmers at the level of primary production, to implement HACCP measures; the development, dissemination and use of guides to good practices to be encouraged in the feed sector; and the question of introducing financial guarantees for withdrawal from the market and destruction of affected food or feed to be explored.
The new legislation will ensure that the application of the existing registration and approval system is extended across the whole feed sector and consequently the concept of full traceability is greatly enhanced.
My Department is preparing the necessary legislation and registration forms to ensure the new provisions come into effect on 1 January 2006.