Study on the assessment of plants/herbs, plant/herb extracts and their naturally or synthetically produced components as ‘additives’ for use in animal production

Abstract

European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Regulation No. 1831/2003 on additives for use in animal nutrition.The purpose of this regulation is to establish a Community procedure for authorising the placing on the market and use of feed additives and to lay down rules for the supervision and labelling of feed additives and premixtures in order to provide the basis for the assurance of a high level of protection of human health, animal health and welfare, environment, and "users and consumers" interests in relation to feed additives, whilst ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market.Any person seeking an authorisation for a feed additive or for a new use should submit an application to the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), as provided by Article 7 of Regulation No. 1831/2003 at least one year before the expiry date of the previous authorisation for additives with a limited authorisation period, and within a maximum of seven years after the 18 th October 2004, date of entry into force of this Regulation for additives authorised without a time limit or pursuant Directive 82/471/EEC.The guidelines for the applicants to prepare the dossier for the authorisation of additives in animal nutrition are provided according to Directive 2001/79/EC, until specific guidelines following Regulation No. 1831/2003 will be established by the Panel on Additives and Products of Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).Under the current regulation detailed guidelines for some family of products are completely missing, that it is the case of the plants/herbs, plant/herb extracts and their naturally or synthetically produced components.For this reason it is one of the priorities of the FEEDAP Panel to implement guidelines/guidance for these types of compounds.It has been observed that plant/herbs and their extracts are increasingly being used (and informally marketed) not only as sensory additives, but also for other purposes not covered by the legislation, notably better growth or feed conversion, improved meat quality, and for prophylactic purposes.There are strong indications that such use will further increase as replacement additives for the antibiotic growth promoters whose use will be prohibited by the end of 2005.Nowadays, a compiled list of these compounds or extracts does not exists although the European Federation of Animal Feed Additive Manufacturers (FEFANA) notes that some 280 plant extracts and a further 1700 chemically defined compounds have been used within Member States as sensory additives in animal feeds.The results of this study will be used by EFSA, in consultation with the European Commission, Member States and other stakeholders, to provide input for the development of guidance/guidelines documents for the authorisation of plants/herbs, plant/herb extracts and their naturally or synthetically produced components for use in animal nutrition.