The working groups

To work on these priority challenges – Feed safety, Nutrition-Health, Sustainability – AFCA-CIAL builds on the positions of its Board of Directors. It implements them through its working groups, in collaboration with the other animal nutrition associations, and proposes recommendations and professional positions. These positions are defended and argued with the authorities and political bodies.

The working groups are also responsible for drafting technical documentation to help companies apply the legislation.

• Premixtures working group

It brings together all French premixtures manufacturers . It mainly monitors issues on authorisations for additives and chemical legislation and their consequences on premixtures. It prepares technical elements to respond to requests from the Premix Committee at the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (Fefac).

• Liquid feed working group

It comprises manufacturers of liquid feed materials and manufacturers of liquid supplementary feed. It focuses on topics specific to liquid feed and their reputation.

• Mineral and Dietetic feed working group

It monitors technical and regulatory issues related to the mineral and dietetic feed sector, and prepares recommendations and association positions.

• Communications & Public Affairs working group

It directs AFCA-CIAL’s communications actions around 3 main focuses: sustainability, feed safety and nutrition-health and animal well-being. It also supports the association in deploying the different communications tools.

• Sustainability working group

This is a prospective group that reflects on the issue of sustainability for AFCA-CIAL’s industry sectors; it monitors the actions of Duralim (French collaborative platform for the sustainable nutrition of livestock) and the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC), monitors regulatory changes and techniques, and diffuses information to the members.

• Animal well-being working group

Its task is to respond to members’ concerns about animal well-being. It prepares technical tools and recommendations for members and upstream sectors.

• Product chemical risk working group

It aims to deepen knowledge and share expertise on the chemical risks related to products used in animal feed, better understand the regulations and their scope of application and better anticipate their changes.

• Organic agriculture working group

It responds to information needs and provides a common position for the sector on specific items concerning the application of the organic regulation for the additive and supplement sector.

• Export working group

It comprises companies involved in exports and aims to deal with the collective difficulties related to the export of animal nutrition products, such as the opening up of the Chinese market.

• Acids working group

It aims to obtain recognition for the effectiveness of acid mixtures for decontaminating raw materials contaminated by Salmonella, in collaboration with the other sector organisations.

• Plants working group

It comprises manufacturers/suppliers of plants and plant-based products and users of these products. It is responsible for drafting the AFCA-CIAL Guide of good practices for the “use of plants and plant-based products in animal feed”.

• Claims working group

It aims to clarify the application of the regulation on claims in animal feed, notably through the AFCA-CIAL Guide of good practices.

• 1831 working group

It proposes AFCA-CIAL’s positions on updating the regulation 1831/2003 on additives and premixtures and prepares the responses to public consultations within this framework.