Food Standards Agency
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Recent ACAF open meeting
The open meeting was held at the Queen’s University, Belfast on 19 June 2015. It gave stakeholders an opportunity to observe the Committee at work and ask questions.
The Committee received an update presentation on the Food Fortress initiative being carried out by the Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association (NIGTA) in assuring food safety in Northern Ireland following the publication of the report and recommendations of the Industry Feed Assurance Group in 2011. The Committee was interested in the work being taken forward by NIGTA and its future plans. It requested that when further progress had been made an update would be welcomed.
Dr Jean Kennedy (Devenish Nutrition) gave a presentation on the potential for feed to influence the quality of food of animal origin. The presentation highlighted some areas where the feed industry can have a real impact throughout the food chain. The Committee agreed that it would revisit this issue at its October 2015 meeting, where two members will provide a discussion paper on the relationship between feed and the composition of animal diets for human health benefit.
The Chairman of ACAF’s sub-group currently reviewing the Committee’s 2003 report into on-farm feeding practices provided an update on the sub-group’s work. During the presentation the sub-group Chair explained what changes and additional text had been made to the original report and the rationale for these. Additionally, the sub-group Chair sought the Committee’s views on any gaps in the document. Members agreed to provide the secretariat with their comments. It was also agreed that a final discussion on the draft report would take place at the Committee’s October 2015 meeting.
After the close of the meeting, delegates were given the opportunity to pose questions to the Committee.
The next ACAF meeting is scheduled to take place at Aviation House, London on Wednesday 28 October 2015.
