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FEED SAFETY: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR RUMINANT INDUSTRY IN INDONESIA

The role of animal feed[1] in the production of safe food is recognized worldwide, and recent events have underlined its impacts on public health, feed and food trade, and food security. Concerns prompted by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom, and other more common food problems associated with salmonella, enterohaemorrhagic escherichia coli and other micro-organisms. Based on those recently outbreaks, feed has a significant position in any implementation scheme of food safety assurance system (feed to food safety assurance) in the international sphere. Some schemes that gives substantial importance on feed aspects include "EurepGap" / "GLOBALGAP" (applicable in most European Union countries), "BRC Global Standard", "Safe Quality Food / SQF" (most effective in Australia and the Commonwealth), as well as "International Food Standards" that apply almost all over the world.

In Indonesia, cases of contamination of food, especially food of animal origin, has not been in fact widely reported. However, there are several studies signifying that the contamination of food come from the feedstuff. Bahri (2008) showed that most cases of contamination is by residues of veterinary medicines, mainly antibiotics and sulfa group. While Indraningsih and Sani (2006) showed that in livestock products (most in beef) is also commonly found pesticides in the class of organochlorine and organophosphate. In addition there also found, pesticide contamination in the milk at various level. Indraningsih (2008) showed that it was detected several classes of pesticides, namely lindan, heptakhlor and diazinon in milk within various level between regions. Bahri (2008) that cited Mary et al (1994) also showed that in addition to pesticides, aflatoxin can also be found in a various animal-origin products, such as in chicken and duck eggs. Therefore, it is estimated that there are many other contamination cases in Indonesia are left unreported.

As above, it may indicate that feed safety system in Indonesia is not being the main issue yet. In these findings, the ruminant feed seems to be more at risk to a potential contamination as consequences of its characteristic. Unlike the poultry industry which already has a structured feed supply chain, ruminant feed is still likely underdeveloped. This paper will mainly address the issues related to feed safety in the ruminant industry. The discussion will begin by presenting a brief condition and characteristic of ruminant feed production in Indonesia, then the issues and opportunities for development, and concludes with the recommendation.

Structure and Conduct in Ruminant Feed

Most of ruminant production is still in the form of family farming (smallholder farming), that is complementary to crop farming in general. The practices of ruminant production are commonly done by utilizing resources that can be obtained at no cost (or at minimum cost), especially in feeding practice (low-input low-output system). Agricultural wastes (crop residues) are still the main source of feed for ruminants that still can be obtained without any significant cost.

A small part of ruminant farming in Indonesia is carried out by medium to large-scale enterprise, such as dairy cooperatives and feedlots. They are considered to be the major consumer of feed. Some of the feedstuff used by these enterprise are rice bran, cassava, pollard, meals and cakes (from coconut, peanut, soybean and palm). However, until now, there is not yet formal information regarding the market, thus the volume of feedstuffs production is still difficult to estimate accurately. To approximate the feedstuff market, the overall feedstuff consumption of some dairy cooperatives in Indonesia is expected to be used as an estimator.

Table.1. Estimated feedstuff consumption by dairy industry in Indonesia (tons)

Feedstuff	Year of:
	2008	2009
Bran	381,126	414,506
Pollard	47,285	44,266
Wheat bran	36,445	36,403
Cassava waste	63,576	19,203
Kapok meal	20,299	51,931
Palm oil meal	173,410	140,591
Cocoa meal	17,418	22,685
Soybean meal	25,455	13,885
Peanut meal	15,591	16,620
Mineral	3,246	4,493

Source: own compilation.

Feedstuff, which is largely a by-product, obtained from various commercial units of the agricultural product processing and plantation, which is done through trade between regions (provinces) or between islands in Indonesia. The supply of energy-based feedstuff (such as cassava) usually can be met from the island of Java, while protein-based feedstuff (such as bran and palm oil waste) are fulfilled by the supply of the island of Sumatra. Especially in beef cattle, feedlot industry is estimated to have a level of demand for feed ingredients - especially the source of protein - which is much higher than the manufacturer of dairy cattle feed. This can be clarified by looking at the increasing population of beef cattle - both local and imported - in Indonesia. Based on population, the demand for feed ingredients for feedlot industry is estimated to reach about 730 thousand tons of feed energy sources, and 435 thousand tons of protein per year.

General Issues in Ruminant Feed Production

Quantity and Quality. In the national ruminant, feedstuff sufficiency is still a major problem in smallholder farmer. In this context, the sufficiency of feed can be viewed from various perspectives. In the perspective of availability, the level of sufficiency will be significantly influenced by the movement of the season (seasonal movement), where in certain seasons the level of food availability will decline sharply and vice versa. In addition to the seasons, land use pattern / land ownership (land tenure) is also a crucial factor in the level of sufficiency. High rates of land conversion and transfer of ownership in sub-urban areas are significantly reducing the level of availability of feedstuffs.

Of course, there are many factors that affect the status of availability of feedstuff other than the season and land usage patterns. Among other things, those are including geographical factors, the behavior of the distribution of feed ingredients, feed ingredients and the presence of competition for food, labor availability, and so forth. A considerable periodical low availability of feed supplies can also be reflected on its behavior of price changes throughout the year. As an illustration, the movement of some feedstuffs price index of energy sources in 2009 are presented below.

Picture 1. The dynamics of feed price index movement in West Java in 2009

Source: own calculation.

As price is closely correlated with the quantity of the availability / supply, Pic.1 above can show the status of the main feed raw material availability throughout the year. As an illustration, the supply of bran will tend to be higher in the period March to May because it occurred during the crop harvest period. While contrary to the period from June until the end of the year, the availability will experience a decreasing trend since that period is the period of the crop planting. Overall, the availability of other ruminant feedstuff- most of which is a by-product of food crop - has a similar movement but with different periods.

As has been described previously, the main source of ruminant feed is crop waste or by-product of food processing. Crop waste is a major energy source in feed because it contains up to 80% polysaccharides of dry matter (DM) (FAO, 2000). However, waste has typically a low digestibility and palatability, that is affecting feed intake. Application of technology to improve the quality of crop waste has been widely initiated and implemented by various parties, but its impact has not been seen until now. Feedstuffs which are by-products of agro-industries (usually the source of protein) typically possess better quality. But the facts also show that the by-product which has a relatively high quality usually compete with other uses.

In fact, Indonesia has a set of regulations concerning to the quality of feed. It is summarized in Section 19 - 23 at the Law No.18 of 2009 regarding Animal Husbandry and Animal Health. In these articles, even so, feed quality aspects have not received sufficient consideration. In addition, the ISO standardization of feed and feed ingredients (rations) have also been carried out. To date, there have been 34 types of feed and feed ingredients so (complete / compound feed) that have been standardized nationally.

However, enforcement of regulations and the application of these standards still require further study for effective implementation. In the context of this issue, the application of safety guarantee scheme is likely to be implemented only if the supply of feed can be steady in the long term. During the limited feed supply (availability, access, and fluctuations), quality is unlikely to be the basis for further consideration.

The safety of feed on existing institutional setting. The issue of food safety is a part that related to feed quality. Until recently, feed safety aspects still have not received significant emphasis. In the international sphere, attention (awareness) to the feed safety arises since the establishment of a multi-country task force, known as Codex Alimentarius in 1999 as a continuation of the FAO recommendation of 'feed and food safety' in 1997 (FAO, 2008). In principle, the main purpose of the recommendation of food safety is to prevent contamination / hazard (biological agents, chemical or physical that potentially harmful to human health) into the food chain through feed. Although Indonesia is also referred to the Codex guidelines, but the practice is still quite difficult to implement given the complexity of ruminant feed supply system.

Based on the type of feed and processing stage, some potential contaminants in feed can be presented in the previous Table.2 below.

Table.2. The potential stage of contamination occurrence.

Type of feed	Pre harvest	Post harvest	Processing
Grains	1, 2, 4	1	1
Oilseeds	1, 2, 4	1, 2, 4	1, 2, 3, 4
Molases	2, 4	-	1
Roots & tubers	2, 4	1	1
Forages	1, 2, 3, 4	1, 3	1, 2
Roughages	-	1, 2, 3	-
Fat	-	2	-

Note: (1) mycotoxins; (2) agricultural chemicals; (3) microbial pathogens; (4) heavy metal (FAO, 2000).

The data in these tables show that at every stage in the process possess great potential for contaminants to enter the production chain. As an illustration, oilseeds have the potential to be contaminated at any stage of production, ranging from crop cultivation practices, harvesting, to processing stage. This stage would also include the step of storing product, distributing and processing of pre-treatment. Furthermore, it can be observed that the potential contaminants that enter the production chain varies from biological agents, mycotoxin and heavy metals. Such conditions create a wide implications on the scope of safety assurance system in the ruminant feed sector.

One of the important aspects related to safety in feed production stage is every actor involved in every step of production. Ruminant feed industry consists of various production units that are inter-related but does not have an integrated structure. Each actor can be assumed as a single business unit that aims to maximize the return on the production of different commodities. Crop farmer, agro-processing and agro industry, as the main source of ruminant feed raw material, is a business unit that aims to produce food, while feed is only a by-product. The actors of feed business can be mapped as shown below.

Picture 2. Actors in ruminant feed supply

As one can see, every actor who is in the food production chain has a specific function. The main actors, such as farmers, processors and agro-industry, do not intend to produce feed directly, instead of the main product, food crop or final agro industry product. This implies the absence of feedback mechanism in the chain. In fact, the production of safe feed requires all those involved along the feed chain to recognize that primary responsibility lies with those who produce, process and trade in feed.

To sum up, potential contamination can occur at any stage of food production and actors at each step. Based on the current condition, any efforts to implement feed safety scheme is likely to bear with obstacles. Clearly, the producers of feedstuff typically a small-medium businesses, and geographically fragmented. This condition bring the quality management and food security in the whole chain also seems to be unrealistic. Investments and costs will arise in the infrastructure, technology, human resources, and regulations.

Even so, there is no risk-free implementation given the fairly long supply chain and actors involved. A range of factors make the management of these problems more difficult in developing countries: climate more favorable to microbial and fungal contamination, less structured supply chains (with fewer in-built incentives for quality assurance), limited resources to conduct monitoring and testing. Also, in many developed countries, a number of institutions are involved within the animal feed industries and deal with issues ranging from regulatory decree, quality assurance, safe production and circulations within the marketplace. This is something very new in Indonesia.

Conclusion

In the context of feed safety implementation, the development of ruminant feed supply chain became one of the biggest challenges. As feed safety is likely to be applied to the chain system that has been built, any effort on chain development and its implementation in ruminant feed in Indonesia has become imperative. Its implementation requires an enabling and rules-based policy and regulatory environment as well as the establishment of feed control systems and programs throughout the feed chain at national and local levels. Sharing the responsibility for providing safe feed among all players in the feed and agriculture sector - from feed producers and processors to retailers and user - is mirrored by an approach in which developed countries offer developing ones the resources and experience to build their capacity to ensure their feed chains are safe.

Most important, the key is to strengthen each and every link in the complex process of feed reaching the user - from the way it is grown or raised, to how it is collected, processed, packaged, sold and consumed. One weak link can mean the whole feed chain collapsing. Lastly, one could be sure that once the structured chain is established, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), along with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) are having great potential to be applied.

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[1] Feed (feedstuff) is any single or multiple materials, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended to be fed directly to food-producing animals (FAO, 2004).