Cost Action Feed for Health 2008-2012 main achievements

Food of animal origin contributes significantly to the total nutrients in the current EU diet. The latest review of livestock production and trade indicates that more than 195 million tonnes of meat, milk and eggs were produced in the EU in 2011. To sustain this scale of livestock production, about 500 million tonnes of feedstuffs are required each year within the EU-27. Clearly, ensuring such high outputs of these traded products conform to adequate quality standards is a major undertaking and it is fair to say that the EU has made significant progress in defining standards and promoting legislation in this area. As a consequence the explicit and detailed formulation of the concepts of food/feed safety and food/feed quality, has given rise, within the EU, to legislation on the traceability, control and labelling of both feed and food. However nowadays both feeds/and foods must be considered not only in terms of their nutritional properties but also in terms of their ability to promote health and protect against disease. As a consequence, the role of animal nutrition in designing foods closer to the optimum composition for long-term human health are becoming increasingly important. In light of these topics a scientific network has been set up: the COST Action Feed for Health is a network supported by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology which involves 28 countries, mainly from EU. The main aim of the COST Action is to develop an integrated and collaborative network of research groups that focuses on the roles of feed and animal nutrition in improving animal health and also the quality, safety and wholesomeness of human foods of animal origin. A further topic of the action is to examine the perception of consumers as regards the effects of animal nutrition on animal health and on the quality and safety of the resulting food products. The Feed for Health project works mainly through four Working Groups (WG): Feed and food for health (WG1), Feed Safety (WG2), Feed Supply (WG3), and Consumer concerns and perceptions (WG4). During its life span the action evidenced that wholesome and balanced feed is essential not only for promoting animal growth, production and health, but also for producing high quality food products. This is particularly likely to be true in large scale animal production, where nutrition-based interventions for health can offer a practical and efficient solution to maintaining animal health. From the consumer point of view, it is generally accepted that FEED is perceived as particularly vulnerable in the livestock chain, and they prefer animal products from livestock systems that used high quality animal feed, safe for consumers, friendly to the environment and the animals.