FEFANA elects Frank Chmitelin as new President

Frank Chmitelin is looking forward to his new responsibilities in the FEFANA chair. "I would like to pay tribute to Hadden Graham's hard work on behalf of the Association. FEFANA has grown significantly during his Presidency, passing the 100-Member mark for the first time in 2009. As Board Member, I have been delighted to see the Association's growth in terms of membership, visibility and recognition. As President, I will make every effort to ensure that this continues," says Frank Chmitelin. "Other priorities include maintaining the trustful and cooperative relationship established with the authorities and chain partners as well as to ensure a positive political presence in EU, national and international affairs".

More than ever, the work of FEFANA will mainly focus on meeting the strict rules laid down on EU Regulation 1831/2003. Most of the efforts will continue to be dedicated to support the Members with the enormous task of submitting dossiers for the re‑authorization of all existing feed additives by November 2010. This is a vital action for the feed and food chain as these feed additives are necessary to guarantee the quality of feed, maintain animals in good health, ensure quality meat and animal products and/or improve the environmental impact of animal production. FEFANA is facilitating this task by means of the setting of authorization consortia, focusing on specific groups of feed additives, according to the needs and priorities of the FEFANA Members. "Industry faces a lot of common challenges, particularly in the preparation of these dossiers. Considering the high standards set by EU regulation 1831/2003, it is very hard and costly for companies to carry this task alone. This is why working together with other companies in a cooperative environment has become a priority," said Frank Chmitelin. "However this is also a great opportunity to demonstrate to European consumers the commitment of our sector to meeting the standards of one of the best regulated and safest part of the food chain in the world," he added.

Frank Chmitelin finally explained: "Although the preparation of re‑authorization dossiers for a long list of products by November 2010 is a top priority for all FEFANA Members, we also have to prepare the future of our Association and this is why we recently launched a survey to better understand the needs of our Members. The success of FEFANA has been created through a strong focus in regulatory, technical and political issues which enhances and improves the value that the Association brings to its Members. It is today the referential feed additive platform in Europe and is increasingly gaining recognition in the world. We are committed to improving the service we bring to our Members in order to help them in dealing with regulatory issues related to innovation, product development and marketing of their products. As new President of FEFANA, I look forward to embracing this task."

Frank Chmitelin, age 47, DVM (National Veterinary College of Lyon), Executive MBA (ESSEC Business School), started his career in the feed industry 20 years ago in R&D with Sanders after a few years of practice as a field veterinarian. He joined the feed additive industry at Alltech in 1992 and Rhone Poulenc Animal Nutrition, now Adisseo, in 1994 where he currently holds the position of Executive Director for the Performance Products (Amino-acids and Vitamins) business. He has served as a Member of the FEFANA Board for over 10 years.

FEFANA is the EU Feed Additives and Premixtures Association. It was established on 13 October 2004 and is the new juridical form of the feed additives producers association that was founded in 1963. With more than 100 Members from 28 countries, the Association is the interface between the feed additives industry and the European Union authorities, including Member State authorities, in order to promote, safeguard and defend common and general interests of the industry (in several topics like guidelines, register, labelling and definitions, analysis, feed hygiene and food chain safety or non-feed use of additives). FEFANA's chairperson is Frank Chmitelin from Adisseo.