The EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures, FEFANA, celebrated its 50th anniversary on January 22, 2013.
The first statutes of FEFANA were signed on January 22, 1963, by the National Associations in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The founding members had the vision of forming a European association to act as an interface between the feed additives manufacturing industry as a whole and the European Union, then European Economic Community, and its Member States authorities. Evolution in the European legal framework and market conditions have prompted the alignment of the scope, which currently covers all operators placing on the market specialty feed ingredients and their mixtures. Through integration of the National Platforms and direct corporate affiliation at European level, FEFANA now counts more than 100 Members companies from 28 countries including the EU, Switzerland and Norway.
Since its foundation, the aim of the association has been to promote the benefits of FEFANA member products and their safety for animal health, human health and the environment. Through the ensuing years, the industry played a role in supporting the European agenda in the context created by the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1962. The policy has been aimed at ensuring the availability of affordable food to European consumers; FEFANA products and the scientific and technical know-how of the industry contributed to achieving the improvements in animal welfare, productivity and product quality which took place in Europe in the past 50 years.
Subsequently, in the new framework created by the White Paper on Food Safety in 2000, the industry embraced its role as one of the stakeholders with the primary responsibility for food safety, and has been actively supporting the EU objectives of achieving the highest standards of feed and food safety.
Both the European and global agriculture continue to evolve at high speed, and need more than ever the technological and innovative support brought by specialty feed ingredients. The members of FEFANA have actively started to pave the way and look forward to contributing to overcoming the challenges of tomorrow.
