Identification and selection of animal health and food safety-related risk factors to be included in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's risk assessment model for livestock feed mills

Highlights

• A risk assessment model for commercial and on-farm feed mills is being developed.

• This model covers both animal health and food safety risks related to feed mills.

• 34 risk factors were generated based on scientific literature and expert advice.

• Assessment criteria were defined based on practices found in the feed industry.

• Results will support the allocation of inspection resources based on risk.

Abstract

The safety of livestock feed is recognized worldwide as a prerequisite for the protection of animal and human health. In this context, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is developing an Establishment-based Risk Assessment model for livestock feed mills (ERA-Feed Mill) to assist in the allocation of inspection resources based on feed safety risk. The objectives of the present study were to identify and select animal health and food safety-related risk factors along with their assessment criteria, pertaining to Canadian feed mill practices, to be included in the ERA-Feed Mill model. To do so, a review of the scientific literature and consultations with feed experts were conducted. A final list of 34 risk factors was generated, 21 identified from the scientific literature and 13 from feed expert advice. Risk factors were grouped into three clusters: inherent risk factors, mitigation factors and compliance factors for which 4, 10 and 20 factors were identified, respectively. Criteria for quantitatively assessing each risk factor were defined based on common practices found in the Canadian feed industry. These findings contributed to the initial steps of the CFIA's ERA-Feed Mill model development. By assessing the feed safety risk factors related to feed mills in Canada, this tool will help inform the CFIA on the level of oversight required to manage these risks, and will contribute to the production and maintenance of healthy livestock and the production of safe food.

Introduction

Livestock feed plays a crucial role in the global agricultural and agri-food industries, ensuring the constant supply of safe products of animal origin for human consumption, the health and welfare of livestock and the economic sustainability of animal production (FAO and IFIF, 2010). Over the last two decades, the feed sector has become increasingly important, as the worldwide socio-economic changes has led to an intensification of livestock production systems (Crump, Griffin, & Angulo, 2002). In 2016, the feed industry generated an estimated global annual turnover of over US $400 billion (IFIF, 2017). In Canada, the total livestock feed production surpasses 26 million tonnes annually and the Canadian commercial feed industry generates a total revenue of over $4 billion per year (ANAC, 2019). Livestock feed represents the starting point of the food safety supply chain in the farm-to-table continuum (Crump et al., 2002). Livestock feed can be contaminated with biological, chemical, and physical hazards from inherent toxicants or those introduced during harvesting of the raw ingredients, manufacturing and processing, storage or transport (Fink-Gremmels, 2012; Maciorowski, Herrera, Kundinger, & Ricke, 2006). Indeed, concerns with feed safety were raised globally after the identification of hazardous substances [e.g. dioxins, aflatoxin M1 (AFM₁)] in food of animal origin derived from livestock that consumed contaminated feed (Campagnollo et al., 2016; Fink-Gremmels, 2012). It is important to mention that the food safety risks to humans associated with feed has also gained importance, particularly, after the first identification in 1986 of a group of neurodegenerative infective agents (prions) responsible for transmissible animal spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) such as the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle (Bhunia, 2018).

In Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) administers the Feeds Act and the Health of Animals Act, and their associated regulations, which govern the manufacture, sale and importation of livestock feeds. The CFIA verifies that livestock feeds are safe for animals, humans, and the environment, that they are effective for their intended purpose, and are labelled appropriately (Government of Canada, 1985). As part of its commitment to continuous improvement, the CFIA is developing a systematic evidence-based approach to improve its management of risk along the food supply chain. In this context, the CFIA has developed two quantitative risk assessment models named the Establishment-based Risk Assessment model for food establishments (ERA-Food) (Racicot et al., 2018, 2019; Zanabria et al., 2018, 2019), and for hatcheries (ERA-H) (Racicot et al., 2020a, 2020b). Following the same principles of other risk assessment models, the CFIA is currently developing an Establishment-based Risk Assessment model for livestock feed mills (ERA-Feed Mill) to assess both animal health and the food safety risks (i.e.: referred to as feed safety risks for the remainder of the manuscript) associated with feed mills to support a risk-based decision making in the feed sector encompassing terrestrial and aquatic livestock species. According to the Canadian Feeds Act, an establishment refers to any place, including a conveyance, where a feed is manufactured, stored, packaged or labelled. Feed establishments consist of commercial feed mills, mixed feed manufacturers, single ingredient feed manufacturers, on-farm feed mills, rendering plants, retail outlets, and third-party conveyances. The ERA-Feed Mill model is a tool intended to guide and support the CFIA's risk management strategy, that includes but is not limited to the allocation of CFIA inspection resources based on risks for commercial feed mills and on-farm feed mills. In fact, the management question related to the development of this model was: How to identify Feed Mills that are most at risk to generate issues related to animal health and food safety. The initial step in the ERA-Feed Mill model's development process is to identify the risk factors to be included in the algorithm. Therefore, the present study aimed at 1) identifying and selecting feed safety-related risk factors to be included in the ERA-Feed Mill model, and 2) defining the assessment criteria to evaluate each risk factor based on common practices found in the Canadian feed industry.