Medicated Feed: EU Council's Green Light Wraps up the Animal Medicines Package

On 27 June 2018 EU ambassadors meeting in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) confirmed an agreement reached on 19 June between the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council and European Parliament representatives on a regulation on medicated feed, i.e. feed containing medicines for the purpose of treating or controlling disease in farmed animals, aquaculture species and pets.

The aim of the new rules is to harmonise at a high safety level the manufacture, marketing and use of medicated feed and intermediate products in the EU and to reflect technical progress in this field.

"Today we put in the last piece of the puzzle: the animal medicines package is complete, the sector is now equipped with modern rules that will help, competitiveness and innovation, will also facilitate trade and reinforce the EU fight against antimicrobial resistance."

Rumen Porodzanov, minister of agriculture, food and forestry of the Republic of Bulgaria and president of the Council

The current legal framework for medicated feed dates back to 1990, before the creation of the internal market, and since then it has never been adopted, creating discrepancies in its implementation across the EU member states.