EU puts off organic animal feed rules till 2014

Producers were permitted to feed 5% of non-organic feed to pigs and poultry up until the end of last year. However, the European Union have postponed the introduction of a 100% organic diet for monogastric animals for two years. This means that organic producers can continue to use 5% of non-organic protein feeds currently not available in organic form until the end of 2014. The European Commission first planned to end the derogation for non-organic feed by 1 January 2012. However this was be delayed for an unspecified time in December, as there were fears that this would leave poultry producers short of raw ingredients to provide the nutritional requirements for their birds. The regulation on regional sourcing has also been amended. Although producers will now be required to source a percentage of feed “produced in the same region in cooperation with other organic farms or feed business operators”, the levels have been lowered from 40% to 20%, while 60% of feed for herbivores must be sourced from either on-farm or from the region, originally set at 70%.