Friday, May 6, 2011

South Africa considering opening animal feed dioxin test center

Recent incidents involving the accidental contamination of animal feeds with dioxins have led to countries like South Africa wanting to begin their own testing of feed products for dioxins.
At the Victam International feed industries show in Cologne, Germany, the focus was on further product testing to certify feeds as safe. Currently, South African feed manufacturers must send samples abroad for testing, due to an absence of certified facilities to conduct the tests in their own country. Talks are due to begin shortly between the private sector and the government to explore possibilities for opening a South African test center. Several options have been proposed, including an extension of the operations performed by the South African Bureau of Standards laboratory and the South African Grain Laboratory, which already runs checks for things like mycotoxins.
Information from a national dioxins lab would go into a new database to be maintained by the country's Animal Feed Manufacturers Association, which already has databases on test results for contaminants, including mycotoxins and salmonella, to act as an early warning alert if problems arise.

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