Feed control includes control of facilities, control of raw materials and control of finished products. As in food, so in animal feed there is a wide field of scandal through consumer or business fraud.
Fraud in feed is the set of practices that are done voluntarily in order to deceive / mislead traders (businesses, consumers) with the aim of significant economic benefits from the sale of unsuitable products or products with misleading information.
These practices include the deliberate substitution, addition, falsification, distortion of feedingstuffs, their ingredients and packaging materials, as well as misleading product labeling.
Deception is initially economical, as producers by illegal methods increase their income, offering consumers a product of lower quality or quantity than they should. In addition, fraud has an impact on the health of both animals and consumers, as the products of productive animals, through the food chain, end up in humans.
The Food and Feed Early Warning System (RASFF), set up in 1979, has published several cases of feed fraud in recent years.
The methods used in feed adulteration are as follows:
The determination of nitrogenous substances is traditionally done by the Kjeldahl method. In order to appear misleadingly high nitrogen content in the product that involves a significant amount of protein that is a key nutrient in the diet, substances such as:
- Urea
- Ammonia salts
- Melamine and its related compounds (cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide)
In this way, a fictitious increase in proteins takes place, as it is not easy to separate protein and non-protein nitrogen.
Substitution of quality raw materials from lower quality materials and / or unsuitable raw materials α’ ύλες
Raw materials must have specifications commensurate with the requirements of the legislation. Often used as inferior (not "feed grade") or unsuitable raw materials such as oils of incompatible quality (as well as lubricating oils can be found).
Unsuitable raw materials / products are also sold in the form of "old stock" sales. It is a quite common bad practice as they are fed to amateurs or professionals, feed contaminated with microbiological or with high concentration of toxins or other residues of hazardous substances (ex. pesticide residues, veterinary drugs, etc.) .
False report of origin of raw materials
It concerns the intentional incorrect labeling in the composition of the feed, to mislead the consumer or the interested parties. It usually has the following forms:
- Report of meat / fish species and presentation of unidentified species. For example, animal feed with rabbit, pork, etc., in practice has only one origin and this is of course the cheapest source of meat.
- Related to the above case is the use of meat from animals not mentioned on the label. For example, it may mention pork, but it contains meat from domestic animals, horses, etc.
- Reference to substances that are not contained or are contained in a significantly smaller amount (ex. vitamins, trace elements, etc.)
- Use of raw materials of "unknown" origin. These are cases where the use of raw materials occurs without relevant documents or in other cases a "seeming" and often large distribution network appears, so that it is difficult to monitor a raw material or product.
Coverage of defective products using perfume, paint, and / or other substances
It concerns the use of substances that are not mentioned in the labeling or substances that are not allowed to be used to cover unpleasant organoleptic characteristics and / or the appearance of a more attractive product.
Some typical cases:
- Altered fish feed with high oxidation values in fat or protein nature correspond to high TBA, TVBN, TMA values. The result is the development of a particularly unpleasant odor that reduces the commercial value of the feed. The use of non-labeled oxidative inhibitors or the use of odor-absorbing and aromatizing agents are some methods of improving organoleptic characteristics.
- The use of dyes to improve the image of the product. For example, a case of maize staining has been reported in the RASFF to make it look of better quality. Accordingly, the appearance of meat or fish given as food to domestic animals can be misled.
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