Feed material production

In principle, each feed supplier must have the eligibility of delivery into the QS scheme. However, it may be necessary, particularly when entering new markets, to purchase goods from non-certified producers or traders for a defined period. If you want to purchase feed for feed production from a non-certified supplier, you must act as a gate keeper for the supplier and thus take over the quality assurance for that feed.

Detailed information on the gate-keeper regulation can be found in Annex 9.2 to Guideline Feed Sector.

Producers of fatty acids from chemical refining, fatty acid distillates from physical refining, monoesters of propylene glycol and fatty acid, blended fats and oils, which contain fatty acids and blended fatty acids, crude fish oil and crude coconut oil as well as producers of blended fats and oils which contain fatty acids and blended fatty acids must carry out a positive release sampling before marketing their end products.

In addition, positive release sampling must be carried out for crude fatty acids from splitting and pure distilled fatty acids from splitting if a raw material other than vegetable oil (QS number 02.20.01) was used for the production. Also, for fatty acids, esterified with glycerol, salts from fatty acids, mono-, di- and triglycerides of fatty acids and mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids esterified with organic acids positive release sampling must be carried out if they are not produced with or from fatty acids from the splitting of vegetable oil (QS number 02.20.01).

These products can only be placed on the market if uncritical analysis results on certain parameters, e.g. dioxins, are already on available and handled to the customers.

For more information on the positive release sampling in QS feed monitoring, see the Guideline Feed Monitoring (valid from 01.01.2024).

QS has agreed a mutual recognition of audits and/or certificates with several international standard owners of the feed industry to avoid double auditing of companies.

For the recognition by one or more other standard owners log in the QS database with your access data and select for the corresponding location via the tab Recognitions under Recognition in third-party systems through which third-party systems you wish a recognition by placing a check mark at the appropriate standard (GMP+ Int., Ovocom, AIC, AMA, Qualimat Transport, Fami-QS).

If you wish a recognition by QM-Milk or KAT, place a check mark in the location data directly under Recognitions at Participation QM-Milk or Participation KAT. For the recognition of small-scale producers (feed material production) by GMP+ as well as of mobile grinding and mixing plants by AMA, your certification body deposits the recognition request.

For deliveries to EFISC GTP-certified companies, you only need to provide your customer with the QS certificate.

You can find further information in the Annex 9.1 to the Guideline Feed sector.

To avoid double auditing, QS has agreed a mutual recognition of audits and/or certificates with several international standard owners.

Based on the recognition, you can deliver to the QS scheme. To obtain the QS eligibility of delivery, register your company directly in the QS database. It is important that you indicate the standard by which your company is certified as certification scheme. The registration of pastus+ certified small-scale producers and mobile milling and mixing plants in the QS database is carried out via AMA.

CSA GTP-certified companies do not yet need to register in the QS database to deliver into the QS scheme. For now, it is enough to present a valid certificate, whereby the respective area of activity must be indicated on the certificate. Oqualim-certified companies who comply with the standard RCNA International and the additional module Annex 1: Purchase requirements for goods and services and wish the eligibility of delivery in the QS scheme will be published on the website of Oqualim (www.oqualim.com) and as recognized Oqualim locations (France) in the scheme participant of the QS database.

You can find out which standards are recognized for which activity in Annex 9.1 to the Guideline Feed sector.

If you want to participate in the QS scheme as a feed company owner, register in the QS database. There you also choose a certification body that will perform the audit at your company. After successful auditing, feed producers and traders sign a scheme agreement with QS. Service providers like warehouse keepers and transport companies are contractually integrated into the QS scheme via the certification body.

You can find out which certification bodies are approved in the QS scheme from this list.

First, the company must at least once a year create a site-specific control plan based on the requirements of the Guideline Feed Monitoring, which must at least be met. This control plan considers the expected annual tonnage for each product group (sector-specific) that will be sold as QS goods. The planned analyses must be allocated reasonable over the year to the QS feed and the given parameters.

The samples must be taken by a qualified person who is trained and experienced in the sampling of feed. Then the sample related data must be entered into the QS database. Afterwards, the sample should be sent within 10 days, together with the printed sample report, to the QS-approved laboratory commissioned in the QS database. As soon as the sample related data in the database is in the state Laboratory Commissioned, the laboratory gets access to the data and can enter the analysis results in the QS database. The laboratory must enter the results of the analysis in the QS database at the latest 30 days after the sample has been received or 10 days after the end of the analysis. Once the laboratory has entered the analysis result and completed the sample related data, you can see the analysis results in the QS database under Feed Monitoring and Analysis Results. Here you can also compile the analyses for an evaluation by means of various filtering options or via a download function.

Instructions for using the QS database and entering the sample related data can be found in the support area of the QS database.

Food manufacturers that produce feed as a by-product are part of the feed chain and must be certified as feed producers in order to deliver into the QS scheme. The requirements for feed must be integrated into the company's internal quality assurance and HACCP system. Existing control and documentation systems that demonstrate that the requirements are met can be used for this purpose.

Note: If you produce less than 1,000 tons (dry matter) feed material per year, you can also participate in the QS scheme via an inspection as small-scale feed material producer.

If you produce less than 1,000 t feed material per year (dry matter), you can participate in the QS scheme trough an inspection as a small-scale producer. To participate, contact a certification body that organises all subsequent steps and performs the inspection.

You can find which certification bodies are approved in the QS scheme in this list.

Under certain conditions feed material producers can participate in the QS scheme through a system coordinator. The system coordinator is an organizational structure through which economically independent companies are grouped together and integrated into the QS scheme. The system coordinator acts as a scheme participant (contractual partner) in the QS scheme. Each feed producer organized by the system coordinator is a location of the system coordinator and is approved as his premises. For the approval of the producer, a certification of the location by a QS-approved certification body is necessary. You can ask at the QS office whether your company can use this possibility. There you will also receive the contact details of the system coordinators.

With increased exposure of products with undesirable substances, QS can react immediately by creating a binding ad-hoc monitoring plan. Within this plan, QS can increase the number of analyses of the affected products, deviating from the Guideline Feed Monitoring. As far as relevant for the company, the ad-hoc monitoring plan must be implemented in addition to regular monitoring.

You can find out if there are currently ad-hoc monitoring plans in Annex 8.6 Ad-hoc monitoring plans to the Guideline Feed Monitoring.

The risk-oriented additional control plan Aflatoxin B1 in maize responds to the persistent contamination of aflatoxin in maize (products). It is adapted to the current harvest as well as monthly during the rest of the year and adjusted if necessary. The basis for the assessment of the risk classification are current analysis results, which are collected by QS and other international standard owners, notifications in the EU rapid alert system as well as risks due to weather conditions in the respective country.

Any QS certified feed company that purchases maize and maize processing products (feed material) must comply with the aflatoxin B1 additional control plan in addition to the annual analyses carried out in accordance with the Guideline Feed Monitoring (including pure delivery traders). If your supplier is certified by QS or a QS recognized standard, you do not need to apply the additional control plan because it is already met.

For more information on the additional control plan aflatoxin B1, see Annex 8.5 Additional control plans to the Guideline Feed Monitoring.

When do I have to be certificated as a feed company?

If you want to deliver feed to a QS certified customer, you must be eligible to deliver the correspondent products into the QS scheme. This is possible either via a QS certification or via a certification according to a standard recognized by QS. Excluded from the certification obligation are only pure trade, storage, transhipment, and transport of packaged goods as well as pure agent activities.

Further information on the certification obligation in the QS scheme can be found in the Annex 9.3 to the Guideline Feed Sector.

Feed producers, traders and agricultural businesses that mix their own feed rations must participate in feed monitoring. Excluded from QS feed monitoring are pure delivery traders and traders of exclusively packaged goods unless an additional control plan or ad-hoc monitoring plan also obliges them.

Further information on feed monitoring can be found in the Guideline Feed Monitoring (valid from 01.01.2024) and Annex 9.3 to the Guideline Feed Sector, as well as in Annex 8.5 Additional control plans and Annex 8.6 Ad-hoc monitoring plans to the Guideline Feed Monitoring.

The analysis in QS feed monitoring can only be carried out by QS-approved laboratories. The recognition of laboratories by QS is necessary to ensure compliance with the QS requirements and thus to ensure the comparability of analytical results between laboratories at a uniformly high level.

The approved laboratories are published here and can be selected in the sample related data in the QS database.

Feed monitoring monitors compliance with maximum levels, action thresholds and guidance values for mycotoxins, environmental toxins, plant protection products, salmonella, heavy metals, animal components and polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The control plans list the minimum parameters on which the feedstuffs must be examined at least per year, in terms of industry or animal species. The frequency of analysis depends on the annual quantity (tonnage) for QS feed per location.

You can find out which control plans apply to you in the Guideline Feed Monitoring (valid from 01.01.2024).

All the requirements that you, as a feed company owner, must meet to participate in the QS scheme can be found in the guidelines for the feed sector. The guidelines are published in our document center.

The requirements in the QS scheme go beyond the legal requirements. Particularly, this includes the participation in the QS feed monitoring, compliance with an exclusion list of products that may not be used as feed in the QS scheme, and specific cleaning requirements for the transport of feed.

The laboratories carrying out analysis in QS feed monitoring must be accredited in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. There are also minimum requirements for the range of analysis and the laboratories must participate in ring tests and laboratory competence tests in the feed sector.

For more information on the requirements for laboratories in QS feed monitoring, see the Guideline Feed Monitoring (valid from 01.01.2024).