This article presents the lecture given by Dr. Roberto S. Minetti, of the National Service of Health and Agri-Food Quality of Argentina (SENASA, for its initials in Spanish), in the XXXI International Symposium of Biovet in Tarragona, during the fifth session focused on legislation, which took place on May 29th, 2018.

With the title: “Feed Registration in Latin America and Argentina. Introduction to Feedlatina and Functional Foods“, the lecture delved into the two mechanisms used in Latin America to register a product intended for animal feed, the action of Feedlatina in the harmonization of these systems and the place that functional foods should occupy within the categories present in the registration. The veterinarian of the Biovet S.A team, Dr. Maria Soriano, has made the adaptation of the paper.

Dr. Minneti began his presentation explaining that “in the case of countries like Chile or Brazil are using the audit route”. In this registration mode, the company informs of the elaboration of a product according to the Good Manufacturing Practices (GPM) regulations, and at that moment the company can already commercialize the product, since the company’s sworn statement is believed. GPM will be later verified at the place of production. The drawback of this registration system is that the visit to the company can take place even after a year of starting the sale of the product and many economic and human resources are necessary.

On the other hand, countries such as Argentina and Uruguay are using the registration process, which is based first on sending an electronic file of the company through a digital system, which the State must check and approve so that a certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices can be issued, and the company can market its product. Visits to the companies are made later to assess if the described file is complied with and to audit the products.

In the specific case of Argentina, the registration route is used due to the size of the country and the difficulty it would involve in time, expenses and personnel to use the audit route to register a product. All information on registration and regulations for animal feed is included in SENASA Resolution 594/2015.

The disparity between size, sanitary status, regulations and registration requirements of the countries within Latin America produced a delay in the registration and trade of products between countries.

FEEDLATINA

In order to avoid these delays, a project called “Feedlatina” was created, constituted by the Association of animal feed industries of Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of contributing to harmonization of legislation between countries, regional integration and public-private cooperation.

Feedlatina is made up of 5-member countries and 10 participating countries and is formed by a mixed technical Committee constituted by public and private agents, who meet annually in one of the member countries.

FUNCTIONAL FOODS

Minetti also highlighted, based on the topic of his talk, the concept of functional foods and their current importance. He defined a functional food or nutraceutical as a component of the diet in healthy animals, which is not used as a basic nutrient or therapeutic treatment, that modifies animals’ physiology, benefiting their health or preventing the occurrence of any disease.

He said that about 60 or 70% of all the products described as functional foods were probiotics. Probiotics are microorganisms that, administered in adequate doses, provide a benefit to the health of the consumer beyond basic nutrition.

Functional foods are increasingly used in human nutrition in developed countries, where there is a trend towards the use of better-quality food, mainly due to the greater economic resources and the obesity tendency of people with a sedentary lifestyle.

The representative of SENASA recognized that considering the appearance of these products, it is necessary a legislation that adapts quickly to avoid long periods with indefinite situations in the presence of these innovations that are in continuous expansion. He also underlined that at scientific level, there are still some concepts to be defined and technological resources to be developed to support this expansion.

Finally, he concluded that “in the future it is expected the replacement of Antibiotics Growth Promoters (AGPs) by a nutraceutical, so the use of antibiotics will be restricted only for therapeutic use, because of the presence of microbial resistance.