Feed additives
Not "is it pure?" but "is it authorised?"
Feed phosphates, feed-grade urea, vitamins, amino acids and premixes. A substance can be clean, correctly assayed and completely lawful in one species and prohibited in the next — and it is the authorisation, not the analysis, that decides whether a cargo can be sold.
Products
What we supply, and the parameter that governs each.
A narrow book, deliberately. These are volume nutritional materials rather than the specialised zootechnical end of the market, and we say so rather than implying a range we do not have.
| Product | What it is | The governing parameter |
|---|---|---|
| Feed phosphates — MCP, DCP, MDCP | Mono-, di- and mono-dicalcium phosphate. The principal source of supplementary phosphorus, and a calcium source alongside it. | Fluorine. Phosphate rock carries fluorine and the defluorination step is what makes the product feed grade. See below — this is the single most important line on a feed phosphate certificate, ahead of the phosphorus content. |
| Feed-grade urea | Non-protein nitrogen, converted to microbial protein in the rumen. | Species. Authorised for ruminants with a functional rumen and not for monogastrics, where it is toxic. Also biuret, on the same reasoning as fertiliser urea but for a different consequence. |
| Amino acids | Lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan and valine, as the feed-grade salts and analogues. | The specific form. The authorisation attaches to the substance and often to the production strain or route. L-lysine sulphate from one fermentation route and L-lysine HCl are separate entries with separate conditions. |
| Vitamins | A, D3, E, K3 and the B group, as stabilised feed-grade preparations. | Stability and potency at use. Declared potency is meaningless without the carrier, the stabilisation and the storage conditions. Vitamin A in particular loses activity in the presence of trace minerals and moisture. |
| Trace mineral compounds | Zinc, copper, manganese, iron, iodine and selenium sources, in oxide, sulphate and chelated forms. | Form and maximum content. Copper and zinc maxima in complete feed are set by species and have been tightened over time for environmental reasons; the chelated and inorganic forms are separate authorisations with different conditions. |
| Premixes | Blended vitamin, trace mineral and additive concentrates on a carrier. | Homogeneity and carryover. A premix is a blend, so it segregates on the same physics as an NPK blend — but at inclusion rates measured in kilogrammes per tonne, where a segregated batch is an overdose rather than an uneven yield. |
Contaminants
Directive 2002/32/EC, and the numbers that apply to mineral feed materials.
Separately from authorisation, feed materials carry maximum levels for undesirable substances. On the mineral products in this book, three of them do the work — and the fluorine figure is the one that defines the product.
| Substance | Maximum level | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Fluorine | 2,000 mg/kg | Phosphates. By comparison, feed materials of mineral origin generally are limited to 150 mg/kg, calcium and magnesium carbonate to 350, magnesium oxide to 600 and calcareous marine algae to 1,250 — the phosphate figure is high precisely because raw rock is far higher still, and defluorination is what closes the gap. |
| Cadmium | 10 mg/kg | Phosphates, against a much lower level for mineral feed materials generally. The same rock chemistry that drives the cadmium question on apatite concentrate and on phosphate fertiliser reappears here in a different unit. |
| Lead | 15 mg/kg | Phosphates, calcareous marine algae and calcareous marine shells. |
The chain
Who is allowed to handle it, and what they have to be.
Feed law regulates the businesses in the chain as well as the substances moving through it. A compliant additive supplied by a business that is not registered or approved is not a compliant supply.
- Establishment registration and approval
- Under the feed hygiene regulation, feed business operators must be registered with their competent authority, and those handling certain additives and premixes must be specifically approved rather than merely registered. That includes intermediaries. It is checkable and it should be checked in both directions.
- HACCP
- A documented hazard analysis and critical control point system is a legal requirement for feed business operators, not a customer expectation. A supplier who describes HACCP as a certification they could obtain if required has answered the question.
- Traceability
- One step back and one step forward, per batch, with records retained. This is what makes a withdrawal possible, and a withdrawal is the scenario the whole framework exists for.
- Voluntary schemes
- FAMI-QS for feed additives and premixes, and GMP+ or the equivalent national scheme for feed materials, are widely required commercially and are the practical entry ticket to most European buyers. They are not a substitute for registration or approval; they are evidence layered on top of it.
- Labelling
- Feed additive labelling is prescribed — the additive name and identification number, the active substance content, the batch, the expiry or minimum durability, the approval number of the establishment, and the directions and safety conditions. An incomplete label is a compliance defect on arrival, not a cosmetic issue.
Scope
Where our obligation ends.
- What we supply
- Feed phosphates, feed-grade urea, amino acids, vitamins, trace mineral compounds and premixes, in bags, big bags and containers, from registered or approved establishments with current authorisation for the substance.
- What we do not do
- We do not manufacture, formulate or blend, we do not operate premix plants, and we do not supply coccidiostats, histomonostats or veterinary-controlled products.
- Authorisation
- We verify that the substance holds a current authorisation for the species and use before offering. We will not supply against an authorisation that has lapsed or that covers a different species, and we will not treat an authorisation for a similar substance as covering the one on offer.
- Nutritional advice
- We supply materials to a specification. We do not formulate rations, we do not advise on inclusion rates beyond what the authorisation states, and we are not nutritionists. The formulation decision and the compliance of the finished feed sit with the feed business operator.
- Species restriction
- On feed-grade urea in particular, we will state the ruminant restriction in the contract and on the documentation. We will not supply it where the intended species is monogastric, whatever the price.
How to specify
Six lines, and the first three are regulatory.
On this book the compliance questions come before the technical ones, which is the reverse of every other page on this site.
Substance and form
The exact substance, its form or salt, and where relevant the production route or strain. Not the generic name.
Species and inclusion rate
Target species and age category, and the intended rate in complete feed. This is what the authorisation is written against.
Destination
The market the finished feed is sold into, and the regime that applies there. Authorisations are jurisdictional.
Assay and contaminant ceilings
Active content, and your maxima for fluorine, cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and dioxins — with the moisture basis stated.
Physical requirements
Particle size, moisture, flow, and for premixes the carrier and the homogeneity requirement.
Scheme certification
FAMI-QS, GMP+ or the national scheme your buyers require, and the establishment approval you need evidenced.
Inspection
Two files, and the paper one comes first.
Independent verification by an agency appointed for the consignment — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly. On feed additives the laboratory work is conventional; the distinctive requirement is that the regulatory file is verified as carefully as the assay, because that is where the risk actually sits.
- Authorisation check
- Current authorisation for the substance, the species and the use, verified against the public register at the time of shipment rather than at the time of contracting. Recorded with the date it was checked.
- Establishment status
- Registration or approval number for the manufacturer and for each intermediary, verified rather than transcribed.
- Assay
- Active substance content by the method the authorisation or the standard specifies, with the method named. On vitamins, potency with the analytical method stated, because the methods are not interchangeable.
- Contaminants
- Fluorine, cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury on mineral products; dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs where the material or the origin warrants it. All reported on the 12 % moisture reference basis, with the actual moisture stated so the conversion can be checked.
- Homogeneity on premixes
- Multiple spot samples analysed separately, not a composite. The coefficient of variation across them is the real result — a premix that averages correctly and varies widely is a dosing failure waiting to happen.
- Documentation per consignment
- Certificate of analysis with methods named, authorisation reference and verification date, establishment registration or approval numbers, scheme certificates, full prescribed label, batch number and minimum durability date, safety data sheet in the destination language, certificate of origin, and the inspection report.
Straight answer
What we will tell you before you ask.
- That the authorisation matters more than the assay
- A pure, correctly analysed substance with no current authorisation for your species is unsaleable. We check the register at shipment, not at contracting, and record the date.
- That feed-grade urea is a ruminant product
- Non-protein nitrogen works in a functional rumen and is toxic in a monogastric. We state the restriction in the contract and on the documentation, and we decline the enquiry where the species is wrong.
- That fluorine defines a feed phosphate
- 2,000 mg/kg is the maximum for phosphates, against 150 for mineral feed materials generally. Defluorination is the process step that makes the product feed grade, and the fluorine figure is the evidence that it happened.
- That the 12% moisture basis is not a footnote
- Contaminant maxima are expressed against it. A bare mg/kg number cannot be compared with the limit until the moisture is known, and that mismatch produces both false alarms and false comfort.
- That a premix has to be sampled like a blend
- Spot samples analysed separately, not a composite. At kilogrammes per tonne inclusion, segregation is an overdose rather than an uneven yield.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.