Animal species

The precise and reliable identification of animal species in food and feed is important for legal, religious, commercial and health reasons as well as in view of consumer protection.
Against the background of the BSE problem complex various regulations governing the feeding of particular animal constituents were issued.

Appropriate examination methods are vital in order to comply with this regulations, as well as to secure quality in the feed industry.

TESTING

Screening –Detection of classes or subcategories (e.g. Mammals, Ruminants, Fish , Poultry, etc.) 

Specific identification

Animal species: Cow, pig, sheep, goat, duck, chicken, turkey, horse, deer and further on request.

Testing methods

So far DNA analytical chemistry has only been used in isolated cases to determine animal components in feedingstuffs. The long-established and so far only official method – feedingstuff microscopy – (EU 2003/126/EC) – is dominant in this field. It depends on visible animal constituents such as bone splinters, hair, horn, hide or skin, scales and other constituents of animal bodies. However, this method is time-consuming, depends very strongly on the experience of the staff performing the work, and the informative value of the results is limited. It is very difficult – if not impossible – to allocate the animal fragments found under the microscope to the relevant animal species. For example it is just as impossible to differentiate between ruminants and other mammals as it is to clearly identify individual species such as cattle, pigs, sheep, horses and so on. Furthermore, many products such as blood meals, plasma, gelatin or heated offal cannot be analysed at all due to the lack of visible morphological structures.

PCR analytical chemistry is not subject to these limitations. It functions independently of the presence of visible animal particles and can identify all commercially relevant animal species, classes and groups such as mammals, ruminants, poultry and fish specifically and sensitively. Another advantage of this method is its suitability for fast routine examinations.
Independently of any visible structures all commercially relevant productive livestock, sundry fish species, as well as classes such as mammals or fish and sub-classifications or groups such as ruminants or poultry can be identified specifically and sensitively. Although current legislation in Europe does not yet require this differentiation, there are various reasons for a change. In view of the US feed regulation 21 CFR 889-2000, according to which the use of certain non-ruminants as feedingstuffs is allowed, the ability to distinguish between different animal species already appears expedient.

LEGAL ASPECTS

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament describing instructions to prevent, control and eradicate certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE diseases) entered into force in 2001.
Since then the regulation has been changed and replenished several times.
The latest regulation 1923/2006 came into force on 19 January 2007.
According to that the European ban on feeding meal of animal origin to ruminants will retain indefinitely. However, under certain conditions the following is possible:

  • the feeding of young ruminants with proteins derived from fish
  • the feeding of proteins derived from pigs and poultry to non-ruminants. The ban on cannibalism must be maintained.
  • a threshold for adventitious or technically unavoidable contaminations of feed with traces of animal proteins.