The Global Feed Industry

The Global Feed Industry

Animal feeds play a leading role in the global food industry, enabling economic production of animal proteins throughout the world. Feed is the largest and most important component to ensuring safe, abundant and affordable animal proteins.

Livestock raising and the consumption of animal products make a crucial contribution to the economic and nutritional wellbeing of millions of people around the world. Animal feeds play a leading role in the global food industry and feed is the largest and most important component to ensuring safe, abundant and affordable animal proteins.

World compound feed production has reached over 1 billion tonnes annually. Global commercial feed manufacturing generates an estimated annual turnover of over US $400 billion. Commercial production or sale of manufactured feed products takes place in more than 130 countries and directly employs more than a quarter of a million skilled workers, technicians, managers and professionals.

IFIF and it’s Members are keenly aware of the demographic and sustainability challenges which lie ahead of the food and feed industry. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that the world will have to produce ca. 60% more food by 2050 and we believe that animal protein production will grow even more – meats (poultry/swine/beef) will double, as well as dairy, and fish production will almost triple by 2050.

One of the challenges is that on top of the 1 billion tonnes of feed produced by the feed industry, around 300 million tonnes of feed is produced directly by on farm mixing. This poses challenges as food safety authorities do not regularly audit mixing by farmers and regulatory authorities only inspect when there is a problem. IFIF believes it is vital for the feed industry and for the sustainability of the whole feed and food chain that clear standards apply throughout the whole feed chain. We believe both industrial and on farm mixers should be controlled and inspected on a regular basis.

In order to support the spreading of good manufacturing practice and higher feed safety standards around the globe, in 2020 IFIF and FAO published the new Manual ‘Good Practices for the Feed Sector: Implementing the Codex Alimentarius Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding’ to increase safety and feed quality at the production level.