ACAF Annual Report 2024/25 - Introduction

Introduction   

Overview  

The Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs (ACAF) provide independent scientific advice to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and ministers on the risks in relation to animal feed, with particular regard to human health. The advice and support given by the Committee is crucial in helping the FSA fulfil their mission of “food we can trust”. This means that food is safe, food is what is says it is, and food is healthier and more sustainable.  

The ACAF is a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) that provides expert advice to the FSA/Food Standards Scotland (FSS) as part of the risk assessment process. The main role of the ACAF is to assess regulated product applications of feed additives, feed for particular nutritional uses (PARNUTs) and feed detoxification processes. These products require authorisation before they can legally be sold in the United Kingdom (UK).  

Since the UK left the European Union (EU), the FSA have taken on responsibility for assessing food and feed safety in the UK. This includes all applications for regulated products, which are handled through the Regulated Products Service (RPS).  

In anticipation of the changes introduced by the Reform exercise in April 2025, by which periodic renewal of feed additive applications would not be required, the Committee did not assess renewal applications in the 2024/25 period unless a safety concern was associated with the additive.  

As part of the Reform project, the ACAF and the Secretariat adjusted their ways of working to contribute efficiently to the assessment of feed additive dossiers in GB. The work of the Committee the past financial year focused on assessing applications with a higher level of complexity or with particular considerations that were deemed not suitable to be assessed through other routes. To match the increase in complexity of the applications assessed by ACAF members, the Secretariat also adapted their ways of working to include more comprehensive summaries and cover papers.  

This report outlines the work that has been done by the Committee over the 2024/25 Financial Year (FY).  

Role and responsibilities of the Committee  

The role of the ACAF is to advise the FSA and ministers on the risks in relation to animal feed, with particular regard to human health. Their main responsibility is to carry out the risk assessment for applications of feed additives, feed for particular nutritional uses and feed detoxification processes.  

The Committee comprises an independent chair and fourteen independent members. The Committee is made up of a range of experts, covering relevant scientific disciplines and knowledge of the feed sector who provide insight, advice and the technical knowledge needed to evaluate the safety of animal feedstuffs applications.  

More information about the roles and responsibilities of the Committee can be found in the ACAF Terms of Reference.  

ACAF Code of Practice  

All Members of the Committee adhere to the ACAF Code of Practice. Members act in the public interest and observe the highest standards of impartiality, integrity and objectivity. All Members uphold the public service values expected of them, following the ethical standards outlined in The Seven Principles of Public Life.   

All interests, both personal and non-personal, must be declared. Members do not misuse the information gained in their activities for personal or political gain, or to promote their personal interests.  

Members are aware of their roles and responsibilities and are held to account for the decisions that they make. They have a collective responsibility to ensure that the Committee operates effectively.  

More information can be found in the ACAF Code of Practice.  

Good Practice Guidelines for Scientific Advisory Committees  

All Scientific Advisory Committees that advise the FSA and for which the FSA is the sole lead or sponsor department must follow the Good Practice Guidelines for Science Advisory Committees. 

The guidelines contain twenty-nine principles of good practice, although not all principles are relevant to every committee. The Committee have reviewed their application of these principles over the period of this report (Appendix II) and will continue to do so annually, in line with the Guidelines.  

Compliance with the Guidelines will also be covered in the annual self-assessments by Members and annual feedback meetings between each SAC Chair and the FSA Chief Scientist.  

Ways of Working  

In 2022, the Animal Food and Food Additives Joint Expert Group (AFFAJEG) was reformed into the original parent Committee, the ACAF. This led to a change in the function and remit of the AFFFAJEG to allow full risk assessment advice to be given.  

The Committee’s primary focus is on risk assessment of regulated animal feed product applications. The ACAF are fully supported in their work by a Secretariat, supplied by the FSA/FSS. For all ACAF-led assessments, the Secretariat perform an in-depth completeness check of the technical dossier against the applicable regulations and any associated guidance documents. The Secretariat can flag any areas of concern for the Committee, but the ACAF has full access to the entire technical dossier for their risk assessment.  

The Committee request further information from the applicant if required to evaluate the application.  

Once the ACAF have assessed the application, they prepare their conclusions with regards to identity and characterisation of the additive, safety for consumers, the target animal(s) and the environment, safety for users, workers and efficacy (where applicable). These are summarised in the form of a Committee’s Advice document. The FSA/FSS consider the recommendations in the Committee’s Advice document to formulate a Safety Assessment. The Safety Assessment aids Risk Managers in the risk management phase of the risk analysis process.  

More information can be found in the ACAF Ways of Working.  

Areas of work  

The majority of applications considered by the ACAF are for animal feed additives. Assimilated Regulation (EC) 1831/2003 and assimilated Commission Regulation (EC) No 429/2008 outline the authorisation procedure for these substances and describe the requirements that must be met. The Committee consider applications against the legislation and relevant EFSA Guidance.  

In the period of this report, the Committee considered 50 applications for authorisation of animal feed additives under assimilated Regulation (EC) 1831/2003. Members reviewed and finalised the draft Safety Assessments for 28 applications, 10 of which were assessed in the 2023/24 FY, and reviewed the post market monitoring plans of 7 applications. The FSA/FSS published 18 Safety Assessments based on the recommendations of the ACAF during this time. For more information refer to Section 3: The Committee’s work in 2024/25.  

The Committee also consider applications to update the list of intended uses of feed intended for particular nutritional purposes (PARNUTs), as laid out in assimilated Regulation (EU) 2020/354.  

Feed intended for PARNUTs may only be marketed in Great Britain (GB) if its intended use is included in the list of intended uses, or it meets the essential nutritional characteristics for the respective particular nutritional purpose included in that list. If not, an application must be submitted to amend the legislation. Applicants can request to add an intended use of a PARNUT to the list or add/change the conditions associated with a particular intended use of a PARNUT.  

Unlike with feed additives, there is no formal guidance available for PARNUT applications. When considering applications, the Committee evaluate whether the proposed change is likely to have any adverse effects on animal or human health, the environment or animal welfare. Members also assess whether the proposed intended use fulfils the particular intended nutritional purpose.  

During the 2024/25 FY, the Committee considered no applications for modification of the PARNUT legislation, assimilated Regulation (EU) 2020/354. However, Members reviewed and finalised the Committee’s Advice document for one application that was assessed in the 2023/24 FY. Details on the applications considered can be found in Section 3: The Committee’s work in 2024/25.  

The third type of applications that fall under the Committee’s remit are for feed detoxification processes. There is no specific guidance available for applications for feed detoxification. However, any dossier should demonstrate that the detoxification process meets the acceptability criteria established in assimilated Regulation 2015/786.   

In the period of this report, the Committee did not consider any applications for feed detoxifications processes.  

Three Guidance documents published by EFSA in 2024 were reviewed by the ACAF to evaluate their potential validity as part of the assessment framework of feed additive applications in GB. This exercise is part of the ACAF’s mission to ensure that the latest scientific knowledge and frameworks are used when assessing feed additive risks. The Committee’s feedback on these documents helped risk assessment officials provide accurate recommendations to policymakers regarding the incorporation of EFSA Guidance into the FSA/FSS assessment framework for regulated products. 

In addition to assessing regulated product applications, this year, several members of the Committee delivered a presentation on bioinformatics, with a particular focus on whole genome sequencing.