This article has indicated how the importance of feed safety in the management of plant and animal by-products has become much more recognized over the past few years. This has happened largely in response to the well publicized animal and human health problems that have occurred over recent years as a result of diseases associated with the use of these products.
Although the most public disease outbreaks have occurred in Europe, the potential danger is a global issue and the limited health safety infrastructures in developing countries mean that problems there could go unrecognized. There is therefore a need for all countries to be aware of the problems with animal and plant by-product processing technology, and their solutions.
The information gathered during the preparation of this article came from nearly 400 references produced over the past 20 years and from the Internet; much of this information is unavailable to many developing countries. There is a need to identify the main issues and offer an easily accessible advisory package that will permit such counties to manage their own industries.
Clearly, ensuring that materials are safe to use requires both long- and short-term approaches. In both cases, an in-depth understanding of the problems and ways to overcome them is essential. In the long term, such understanding will enable well thought out procedures for safe processing and treatment to be developed. In the short term, the feed users and regulating agencies need to understand the origins and methods of processing the materials so that monitoring systems can be established to confirm the levels and presence of any unsafe materials.