Rome, 12 November 2018 – The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held their 17th annual meeting at FAO Headquarters on 08-09 November 2018 to further strengthen their collaboration on critical issues to ensure safe, nutritious and sustainable feed and food.
Mr. Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection, welcomed delegates and highlighted the importance of private partnerships to support the FAO goals to the IFIF delegates representing over 80% of global compound feed production.
The meeting was officially opened by Dr. Berhe G. Tekola, Director of the FAO Animal Production and Health Division and Dr. Daniel Bercovici, IFIF Chairman, who welcomed delegates and reiterated their commitment to this longstanding partnership and agreed to continue to strengthen their work together to tackle the challenges facing the feed and food chain.
Mr. Bercovici said “our joint meeting with the FAO once again underlined our strong partnership and IFIF is committed to continue to support the FAO initiatives on capacity development for feed safety, the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock and LEAP, as well joint efforts on feed and food safety at the Codex Alimentarius. IFIF looks forward to our upcoming 6th Global Feed & Food Congress and 12th International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) in Bangkok on 11-14 March 2019, which is another great example of IFIF FAO collaboration positively impacting the feed and food chain.”
Mr. Bercovici added that “together with the dedicated colleagues at the FAO we contribute to building a solid science-based approach to support safe and sustainable animal nutrition to bring quality and affordable food to a growing world population, producing more with less and even better under diverse production systems. The high quality of exchanges and cooperation towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continue to build on our achievements and together with all IFIF members I am pleased our relationship continues to strengthen year to year.”
Daniela Battaglia, Animal Production Officer at the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO, said “FAO and IFIF have a long standing partnership and this meeting addressed a number of critical issues of common interest, such as the need for capacity development to ensure feed safety and the importance of collaborating to tackle the containment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). FAO is committed to work with the private sector and the feed operators and believes that they can valuably contribute to make the livestock and food sectors more responsible and sustainable to achieve important goals such as public health, and animal health and welfare.”
About IFIF
The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) is made up of national and regional feed associations, feed related organizations, and corporate members from around the globe, representing over 80% of the feed production worldwide. IFIF provides provide a unified voice and leadership to represent and promote the global feed industry as an essential participant in the food chain that provides sustainable, safe, nutritious and affordable food for a growing world population. For more information on IFIF please visit www.ifif.org or contact Alexandra de Athayde, Executive Director, at info@ifif.org.
Issued by: IFIF