Safety and efficacy of AviMatrix® (benzoic acid, calcium formate and fumaric acid) for chickens for fattening, chickens reared for laying, minor avian species for fattening and minor avian species reared to point of lay

AviMatrix® (benzoic acid, calcium formate and fumaric acid) is intended to be used as a zootechnical additive (functional group: other zootechnical additives) in feed of chickens for fattening, chickens reared for laying, minor avian species for fattening and minor avian species reared to point of lay to increase performance. The additive has not been authorised in the EU. In 2014, the EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) adopted an opinion in which, owing to insufficient tolerance data and the limited and inconsistent evidence of efficacy, a definitive conclusion on the safety and efficacy of the additive as a zootechnical additive could not be drawn. Additional data have been provided by the applicant related to the safety and the efficacy of the additive for the target species, which is the subject of this opinion. The FEEDAP Panel considers that the additive is tolerated by chickens for fattening up to the maximum recommended dose (1,000 mg/kg complete feed); this conclusion can be extended to chickens reared for laying. However, since no conclusion could be drawn on the margin of safety, the safety of the additive to minor avian species for fattening and to point of lay cannot be extrapolated. Data from three trials provided evidence that AviMatrix® at 500 mg/kg complete feed had the potential to improve the performance of chickens for fattening. The dose proposed for use with chickens reared for laying and minor poultry species for fattening and to point of lay is the same as that demonstrated being efficacious in a physiologically similar major species (chickens for fattening) and it can be reasonably assumed that the mode of action is the same. Consequently, the conclusion on efficacy for chickens for fattening can be extended to chickens reared for laying and extrapolated to minor poultry species for fattening and to point of lay.