Opinion Of The Scientific Panel On Animal Health And Welfare On A Request From The Commission Related To "The Animal Health Risks Of Feeding Animals With Ready-To-Use Dairy Products Without Further Treatment"

The Animal Health and Welfare panel of EFSA was invited by the European Commission to issue a scientific opinion on the risk of feeding farmed animals with ready-to-use Category 3 milk, milk-based products and milk-derived products, and raw products produced to food standard under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, without further treatment as stated in the ABP regulation (EC) 1774/2002).The mandate given by the EC covers two aspects, namely the risks caused by the use of the dairy by-products of concern to animal health and of concern to public health. Therefore, EFSA decided to produce two different opinions, one from the Animal Health and Animal Welfare panel (AHAW) and one from the panel for Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ).The first part of the Scientific Report describes the structure of dairy production and processing of milk with special reference to thermal and other processes applied to reduce human and animal exposure to biological hazards. In addition, the dairy products of concern, their rejection and the practices used for feeding animals with the products are also described. Milk from cow, sheep, goat and buffalo are considered. The second part of the Scientific Report identifies, as the principal hazards, 24 infectious diseases of animals, of which 5 can also infect humans (zoonoses), all of which were subjected to a qualitative risk assessment. A quantitative risk assessment was also done for the risk of transmission of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) as it is one of the main concerns.The assessment demonstrated a significant risk for the transmission of the infectious animal diseases studied including zoonoses through feeding farmed animals with different kinds of ready-to-use Category 3 milk, milk-based products and milk-derived products, as well as raw products produced to the food standard under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 without further treatment.Both the qualitative and quantitative risk assessments demonstrated that the risk of spreading FMD with milk and milk products are substantial if FMD is introduced unnoticed, and if products are not subjected to a combination of treatments that eliminate the risk. The risk under consideration is estimated to be moderate to high for five products: i) raw milk; ii) non-heat treated white water; iii) unpasteurised cheese with a pH> 6 during the processing; iv) butter when made from pasteurized cream; and v) whey made from raw milk during cheese processing.It was highlighted that raw milk as well other dairy by-products are often transported between Member States to feed to animals and consequently, outbreaks of disease can occur far away from the collecting area of the by-products including raw milk.Raw milk and raw milk products constituted the highest risk and it was noted that a few Member States legally allow humans to consume raw milk. It is also noteworthy that many sheep and goat cheeses are made from raw milk in the Mediterranean regions in Southern Europe.The processing standards according to the provisional measures (EC 79/2005; Chapter 2.3.2) for Category 3 Dairy Products such as processed products, whey, unprocessed products and white water, are less strict than the standards in the ABP Regulation, and do not prevent the risks of exposure and transmission of diseases to farmed animals through the feeding of such products.Dairy by-products containing raw milk, white water or unpasteurised dairy products should not be used for feeding farmed animals to avoid the risk of transmission of infectious diseases. No dairy by-products should be fed to animals unless they have been appropriately treated so as to avoid the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, including FMD and MAP.The full traceability of dairy products should be ensured if heat-treated dairy by-products are to be used for feeding animals (see Recommendation 2). Traceability systems should be in the form of records of the quantities of material despatched, the nature of the materials, their destination, and any mixing of products and batches.In conclusion, actions such as those set out in the standards of the ABP Regulations should be taken to avoid the risk of spreading infectious diseases through the feeding of Category 3 dairy products