Rationale
Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed defines labelling as follows:
“‘Labelling’ means the attribution of any words, particulars, trademarks, brand name, pictorial matter or symbol to a feed by placing this information on any medium referring to or accompanying such feed, such as packaging, container, notice, label, document, ring, collar or the internet, including for advertising”.
This therefore allows Feed Business Operators (FBOs) to advertise their feed products, including feed additives and premixtures. However, in its Article 13, the Regulation limits the concept of claims to feed materials and compound feed:
“…labelling and the presentation of feed materials and compound feed may draw particular attention to the presence or the absence of a substance in the feed, to a specific nutritional characteristic or process or to a specific function related to any of these… (§2, article 13)”.
Although this article refers to feed materials and compound feed, claims in other types of feed are also commonplace. Furthermore, Article 25 of the Regulation promotes the development and use of codes of good labelling practice to support harmonised implementation of the labelling requirements by FBOs, however restricting it to two specific codes, one for feed for food-producing animals and one for pet food.
The term “claim(s)” is neither defined nor mentioned in Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 on feed additives and premixtures. Nevertheless, it is used throughout
Commission Regulation (EC) No 429/2008, when referring to “the ‘claimed’ function” declared by the applicant. In this regulatory context, FEFANA found it appropriate to develop a specific Code of Practice aiming at harmonizing the implementation of labelling by feed additives and premixtures business operators for reasons of transparency, fair competition and for the sake of predictability. In this Code of Practice, the term “
voluntary labelling particulars” is used instead of the term “claims”, although understood having the same meaning.