Potential Hazards in Animal Feeds: Safety and Regulation

Assurance of animal feed safety is central in achieving safe food for human population. There is a wide range of potential hazards in animal feeds viz. biological hazards (bacterial, prions, mycotoxins, genetically modified crops), chemical hazards (pesticides, dioxins, heavy metals) etc. Such hazards have potential to enter into food chain via animal feeds to animal products and threaten the animal product safety. Awareness regarding these hazards has been initiated and screening/investigations are carried out to know the status in different types of feeds in various geographical areas. Various regulatory systems exist nationally and internationally to address the issue. Present paper summarizes various studies indicating occurrence of various hazards in animal feedstuffs and existing regulations for their prevention.