FAMI-QS celebrates its 10th years anniversary. Interview to Emmanuel Geneiatakis

FAMI-QS, The EU Association for Feed Additives and Premixtures Quality, celebrates its 10th years anniversary. Engormix decided to do an interview to know more about the association, its activities, achievements and about the event that will take place in Brussels, Belgium on May 5th, 2014. 

Emmanuel Geneiatakis, FAMI-QS Quality Manager, answers to our questions:

FAMI-QS started in 2003, as a spin off project of FEFANA, the EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures. At the time, our industry was working intensively, in order to ensure that our sector would be prepared to accommodate the developments foreseen by the Feed Hygiene Regulation. FAMI-QS represents the commitment of the sector of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures, towards safety and quality. 

The FAMI-QS Code addresses the safety, quality and regulatory compliance of specialty feed ingredients and their mixtures by:

FAMI-QS is a pioneer in its field, because it is the only certifiable code that is specifically aimed at specialty feed ingredients and their mixtures. It is also the first Community Guide to Good Practice to have obtained official recognition from the European Commission as foreseen in the Feed Hygiene Regulation. 

The FAMI-QS Code is designed to cover general international requirements affording feed safety and quality. FAMI-QS members are spread across in more than 47 countries. 

FAMI-QS is not just another feed safety scheme. Indeed, having been devised by the industry for the industry, FAMI-QS speaks the latter’s language and encompasses the sector’s knowledge and vast expertise in the area. As a consequence, feed businesses have access to the best knowledge and technical advance in the sector in which they carry out their activities whilst having the possibility to obtain a certificate that provides added value to their businesses.   

The FAMI-QS certification is a tool that the industry can use, to help them demonstrate their implementation of both EU, in particular Feed Hygiene regulation and other local legislation. Also the Code is devised in such a way to help minimize the risk of unsafe specialty feed ingredients and their mixtures from entering the feed and thus food chain. 

FAMI-QS certified feed business operators achieve added value, both thanks to the implementation of the FAMI-QS Code and to the FAMI-QS certificate. This is because the FAMI-QS certification is now internationally recognized by market partners and authorities. 

The implementation of the FAMI-QS Code by feed business operators has also shown that feed businesses can improve their production processes thus introducing innovation, as well as ensuring safety.

Our system has a very high credibility since we are monitoring the performance of the auditors and CBs on a regular basis.

Traceability is an important element for the FAMI-QS certification, on one hand because it is a regulatory requirement in Europe, and on the other because the role that traceability systems have, in guaranteeing high safety and quality for the feed chain, has increased. Moreover, taking into account the markets’ integration and globalization, as well as the global sourcing of raw materials, FAMI-QS considers traceability to be pertinent with regards to affording food safety. 

The traceability requirements that are defined in the FAMI-QS Code ensure the prompt response of FAMI-QS certified feed business operators, in the event of an incident. This eliminates the risk of the latter spreading to the whole feed/food chain. 

The “farm to fork” concept consists of a holistic approach to food safety. For food to be safe, it must come from healthy animals, and animals fed safe feed.

We therefore take responsibility for our part of the chain, i.e. the very early stage of feed production, by means of the FAMI-QS certification. Indeed, by implementing the requirements in the FAMIQS code, we do our outmost to deliver safe specialty feed ingredients to the next step on the food chain. 

FAMI-QS certified feed business operators should meet as a minimum the requirements laid out in the feed standards. If ingredients are produced or traded in unhygienic conditions, meeting said requirements are not attainable. By contrast, thanks to the FAMI-QS Code, we deliver specialty feed ingredients that meet the relevant product standards… This is part of our contribution to the “farm to fork” approach. 

In 2003, FEFANA started working on the development of an EU harmonized feed safety assurance scheme. The objectives were to create a feed safety management system that would fit with our sector’s needs. 

A milestone for FAMI-QS has been its adoption as the Guide to Good Practice for Feed Additive and Premixture Operators, under the provisions of the feed hygiene regulations, by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. 

Furthermore, during the last 10 years, we have managed to raise the awareness of feed safety, not only inEuropebut also in third countries; we have also contributed in ensuring fair level playing field on the market. 

FAMI-QS is a third party certification system. As such, it is important that it demonstrates its compliance with the international accreditation standards. This is the reason why seeking accreditation has been our priority. In February 2013, after an extensive evaluation by the European Accreditation (EA), the latter decided that FAMI-QS was suitable for accreditation. This confirms that it meets the requirements of the international accreditation standards. FAMI-QS is the first feed scheme to have been assessed against the EA procedures and, after our evaluation, other schemes are following suit; these can only be to benefit ensuring food safety.   FAMI-QS fully supports the European Accreditation, given that it considers its efforts in harmonizing the accreditation process inEuropeto be very important. 

There are numerous but the most important is the dynamic discussions on activities that would continue to confer confidence in the global food chain safety. 

Nowadays, international trade takes place in quite a complex legal and business environment. As far as the sector of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures is concerned, third party certification (TPC), and FAMI-QS in particular, is becoming an important tool in supporting market access, at a global level. Operating on such a large scale, a scheme is required to both meet and respect the rules of international trade. It has therefore become a must to integrate the compliance with the International Accreditation Standards and the respect of the World Trade Organisation- Technical Barriers to Trade agreement, in the structure of the scheme.

During the event, we will try to reopen the dialogue on the use of Third Party Certification by the competent authorities. Third Party Certification is not meant to substitute the competent authorities’ responsibilities; it is however increasingly recognized by a number of them, as an important element, which not only supports their enforcement role, but can also help in setting state-of-the-art practices at global level and, as such, can facilitate understanding and exchanges, at international level. 

As mentioned before, the approach that we have adopted with GMP+ International, i.e. moving ahead with a Memorandum of Understanding that is based on trust, is a new approach in the bilateral discussion between feed schemes, which will also be discussed during the event. 

The program also includes discussion of the Feed Schemes Observatory. This is the most recent initiative fully supported by FAMI-QS. FSO aims to create an independent, transparent and impartial benchmark system for feed safety assurance schemes.