June 9, 2005

GMP system revamped to meet changing regulations
 

Dutch regulatory organisation Product Board Animal Feed (PDV) has updated its GMP+ system to take into account modified international regulations and globalization of the quality assurance system.

The changes, which came into effect on June 1, also attempt to rectify a lack of accessibility in the old system.

Among the changes were tightening rules for the imposing of sanctions, standardizing audit-checks and reducing the number of mandatory procedures.

The GMP+ scheme has also been simplified such that benchmarks for the production of compound feeds, premixes, feed materials and additives have been combined into a single standard. This results in less administrative burden on companies that carry out multiple activities.

By allowing GMP+ to comply with the latest requirements and regulations, it also meets standards set in accordance to the new HACCP rules for foodstuffs production.

Under this new system, feed sector participants in the GMP+ scheme automatically comply with existing industry regulations.

The new-style GMP+ also takes account the IFSA (International Feed Safety Alliance) standard for feed materials production.