GADVASU conducts meet on Cattle Feed Quality & BIS Standards

Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) in collaboration with All Feed Millers Association (AFMA) conducted one day seminar on BIS registration process and standards of cattle feeds in India on 13.12.2022 at Ludhiana. More than 200 cattle feed millers from Punjab participated in the meeting. Dr Inderjeet Singh; Hon’ble Vice Chancellor GADVASU was the Chief Guest. Dr JPS Gill; Director Research, Dr PS Brar; Director Extension Education, Mr. Deepak Kumar Aggarwal,; Sr Director & Head BIS Northern Region Office were the Guests of Honor.

Welcoming the participants, Mr. Inderpreet Singh coordinator of the meet; explained the agenda of the meeting. He said that all members of AFMA are committed to produce quality feed for cattle. Earlier the Department of Dairy Development Punjab used to look after the implementation of cattle feed order. But now FSSAI has made it mandatory for every cattle feed mill to register with BIS and follow its guidelines throughout the India. As there was no proper communication with the feed millers and lot of confusion regarding the new amendments; today’s deliberations will be fruitful in this regard.

Mr. Vikas Kalra; Joint Secretary AFMA narrated the vision and activities of AFMA. He emphasized that AFMA is committed to produce quality feed, educate feed millers, organize technical seminars and work with Government agencies to uplift the dairy farmers by ensuring optimum production and reproduction. He showed concern about the raw materials availability, variations in their composition & prices from region to region and season to season.

Ms Poonam Choudhary Scientist working with BIS gave a talk on registration process. She explained how a feed miller can register with BIS online through its portal www.mankonline.in. She listed number of documents to be uploaded along the applicant’s own identity details. She informed step wise step processes and ensured that registration is completed within 30 days. She listed the BIS approved laboratories and revealed the fee structure for license application 

Dr Parminder Singh working as Professor in GADVASU touched about BIS specifications of cattle feeds and the raw materials which are being used in cattle feed. He informed the gathering regarding the latest amendments/parameters to be implemented in new proposed laws. He stressed upon the levels of Crude Fiber and Acid Insoluble Ash in the feed ingredients. He cautioned the feed millers to be vigil while purchasing the raw materials as their composition varies due to different agronomic practices, processing methods, adulteration and storage. He advised the feed millers to have mini laboratory at their premises for routine analysis.

Dr Parkash Singh Brar; Director of Extension Education highlighted the extension activities of GADVASU. He informed the audience that GADVASU in association with Department of Dairy Development Punjab conducted 31 trainings for cattle feed millers, solvent extract operators and mineral mixture manufacturers from 2009 to 2016 in which 1460 entrepreneurs participated.  During the three day trainings various aspects of feed manufacturing viz. raw material purchase, feed processing, rations for different class of animals, laboratory methods, quality control, aflatoxins menace and various legislation governing feed miller were being discussed.

Dr JPS Gill; Director of Research stressed upon the quality parameters of feed not only on aflatoxins but residues of drugs/pesticides/insecticides as well. He represents FSSAI in various capacities for the last 15 years. He highlighted the role of FSSAI in maintaining the standards of food items meant for human consumption. The new rules do not come in a single day. Proper advertisement and objections are sought. Unfortunately we take it lightly and new rules surface. He gave the examples of high yielding cross bred animal’s milk standards in Punjab particularly Fat & SNF percentage, which were changed by FSSAI after 2-3 years of field survey and data generation.  Milk is number one commodity in India, various survey reports say that the quality of milk is mostly the reflection of cattle feed standards. So FSSAI has mandated for every feed mill to get register with BIS and follow the standards prescribed by BIS manuals. He stressed upon to generate data, publish reports to argue with the policy makers for a change in guidelines.

Mr. Deepak Kumar Aggarwal; Sr. Director and Head Northern Region informed that BIS is celebrating its 75th anniversary. BIS has set standards for more than 21000 items out of these 381 commodities fall under regulation and mandatory. FSSAI is regulatory body and it directs every feed miller to comply the specifications of cattle feed set by BIS. He said it is but natural, when new guidelines come there is a phase of resistance, reluctance and acceptance. He was optimistic that cattle feed millers of Punjab will come out from reluctance phase and will accept the new legislation. He cautioned all the feed millers not to approach any middle men, agents etc. as the process of registration is online and digital. He asked everyone to collect your own feed sample get it tested from BIS affiliated lab and upload the results for smooth registration. He emphasized that registration is simple process step wise, if needed some IT experts from the bureau can help. There is absolutely no need to visit the office of the BIS. The genuine concerns about some parameters in the feed can be modified with proper documentations and discussions with various panelists.

Dr. Udeybir Chahal; Head, Department of Animal Nutrition spoke about the feed analysis facilities in the department. All the proximate principles viz. crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber, AIA etc are estimated within a week. He informed that these tests are done through wet chemistry. Industry wants quick results, for that department has NIR facility also. But wet methods have more authenticity at present. Department also estimates aflatoxins B1 with HPLC method.  He said university charges are very nominal as compared to private players. He asked the feed millers to send maximum feed samples for quality check. He also informed the house that Department of Animal Nutrition conducts 5 day entrepreneurship training on feed manufacturing as well.    

In his presidential address, Dr Inderjeet Singh Worthy Vice Chancellor GADVASU appreciated the efforts of AFMA to bring Industry Academia and BIS officials at the same platform to clear the anxiety about new guidelines. He reminded the audience about similar type of meeting of feed millers, animal nutritionist & FSSAI experts during recently held Animal Nutrition Conference. He also showed concern about the availability of quality raw materials and subsequent end products. The universities and research centers must evolve some mechanisms to produce quality grains and storage conditions for low toxins levels. Since milk alone contributes around 8.5 lakh crore per annum, its quality is more important as it is part of human food chain. The onus is on farmers and industry to produce quality milk especially for venerable section of society i.e. children, elderly people, patients and nursing mothers. The matter of aflatoxins in feed also came up through CLFMA in the 1st meeting of National Advisory Committee chaired by Hon’ble Minister of State GOI Dr Sanjeev Balyan. If it is felt that such low levels of aflatoxins cannot be controlled then recommendations can be given to GOI to modify the standards, but for that we must have authentic data. We must analyze the toxins levels of feed and feed ingredients from accredited laboratories and generate database to be discussed in 2nd NAC meeting with policy makers. Due to cross breeding programmes, cows are producing more than 50-60 liters and buffaloes more than 28 liters per day respectively. The concept of precision feeding has come up where nutrient requirements are met for each period of production & reproduction i.e.  Transitional, Dry, Heifer, Calf feeds etc. These feeds do not rely only on crude protein but its digestibility, amino acids availability at tissue levels are being worked out for least wastage. He gave the example of poultry sector where each gram of feed matters to economize the cost. He informed that university conducts one month training on Feed Analysis. Any science graduate or may be 10+2 can easily get training which can be employed in a feed factory.

Then there was a question answer session in which various queries ranging from aflatoxins, crude fiber and protein levels were asked. BIS registration process and more work on research and data generation were raised. Dr JPS Gill and Mr Deepak Kumar Aggarwal gave the answer patiently. 

Mr. Ashok Kumar, President AFMA proposed the vote of thanks to the feed millers who came from all parts of Punjab and neighboring states. He thanked the BIS officials for interacting and clearing many doubts regarding feed mill registration and legalities. He expressed gratitude to university officials especially VC Sir, Director of Research and Director of Extension Education for participating in the meet.

Meeting ended with gala lunch.