1. Introduction

In the context of the „Futtermittelvereinbarung QM-Milch“ (Feed Agreement QM-Milch) dairy cattle feed in Germany must meet a number of requirements, of which a QM-Milch approved feed safety system must guarantee that these requirements have actually been met. These requirements are summarized in this Country Note QM-Milch, which refers to the relevant GMP+ requirements and describes a series of specific requirements.

The QM-Milch program is intended to guarantee that only high quality milk is being produced and processed. More information is available on the website of QM-Milch (www.qm-milch.de).

This document is referred to as TS 2.3 Country Note QM-Milch and is part of the GMP+ FSA module

2. Scope, application and certification

2.1. Scope of the Country Note

This Country Note contains requirements for the inspection and monitoring of specific undesirable substances in feed materials and compound feed delivered to dairy farmers participating in the QM-Milch program, including the assessment of the results and informing QM-Milch of these results and a number of other elements.

2.2. Application

This Country Note applies to the GMP+ certified companies supplying feed materials and/or compound feed to dairy farmers for direct feeding.

The country note facilitates to demonstrate a GMP+ certified company meets the QM Milch requirements and therefore can be used as addition to the application of one of the other applicable GMP+ standard documents.

Whether the relevant requirements of QM-Milch have been met is demonstrated by means of a certificate issued by the certification bodies accepted by GMP+ International.

In practice this concerns producers and suppliers of compound feeds and feed materials of whom the GMP+ feed safety management system covers at least one or several of the following scopes:

1. Production of compound feed
2. Production of feed materials
3. Trade in feed
   
   

2.3. Certification for companies

Additional scope: QM-Milch

The certification is applicable for each company site (as with the certification for other GMP+ standards). The certification according to this Country Note is explicitly registered in the GMP+ International Company Database and listed on the GMP+ certificate.

Such a company will be listed as a QM-Milch approved feed supplier and is approved to deliver feed materials and compound feed to dairy farmers, who participate in the QM-Milch program.

3. Normative references

This Country Note can only be used in addition to the following GMP+ FSA (Feed Safety Assurance) scopes:

1. Production of compound feed
2. Production of feed materials
3. Trade in feed (specified in compound feed and/or feed materials)

In case the GMP+ certified company delivers soy and/or compound dairy feed containing soy then this Country Note must be used in addition to at least one of the following GMP+ FRA (Feed Responsibility Assurance) scopes:

1. RTRS segregation (MI 5.1)
2. RTRS mass balance (MI 5.1)
3. Responsible dairy feed (MI 5.3)
4. Responsible feed (MI 5.6)

For a definition of ‘soy’ see F 0.2 Definition list.

4. Terms and Definitions

See F 0.2 Definition list.

5. Communication with the customer

The certified company must receive from the customer in writing the following information:

1. the species or categories of animals for which the feed is intended
2. type of feed/name
3. compliance with QM-Milch criteria required
4. consent to forward the VVVO-number as a part of the EWS notification.

The certified company must make the status of the delivered feed clear to the customer via a positive declaration. In this context, please see the relevant GMP+ requirements in respect of a positive declaration (TS1.8 – Labelling and, if applicable, R5.0 - Feed Responsibility Management Systems Requirements, chapter 4.5).

The certified company writes down in a contract with the customer which scope the feed complies with. The following requirements apply:

1. the status of the feed must be communicated to the customer on delivery at the latest;
2. only certified companies that are certified according to the applicable scope are allowed to make a statement about the status of the feed.

6. Monitoring

6.1. General

The GMP+ certified company has a monitoring plan to monitor the feed delivered to dairy farmers participating in the QM-Milch program.

The monitoring plan must at least meet the GMP+ requirements regarding monitoring and include periodic and systematic monitoring for the following substances:

• Aflatoxin B1
• Dioxin
• Dioxin-like PCBs
• Non-dioxin-like PCBs

In this context, please see the relevant GMP+ requirements in respect of monitoring (TS 1.7 Monitoring) associated with the R 1.0 Feed Safety Management Systems Requirements.

6.2. Sampling and Analysis

Representative samples must be taken by the GMP+ certified company (or on behalf of the certified company) in accordance with the requirements according to TS 1.6 Sampling.

The analyses must be carried out by a GMP+ Registered laboratory. See TS 1.2 Purchase.

6.3. Reporting and sharing data

The analysis results must be uploaded to the GMP+ Monitoring database and shared with the „QM-Milch“ group. This allows the GMP+ certified company to anonymously share the analysis results with the manager of QM-Milch. Based on the analyses carried out by the certified companies in this Country Note, the manager can draw up reports.

7. Assessment and follow-up Measures

7.1. Limits

For the analyses carried out in accordance with the requirements of this Country Note, the following limits apply:

7.2. Exceedance of a limit

If a rejection limit from paragraph 7.1 is exceeded the feed is not suitable for delivery to dairy farmers who participate in the QM-Milch program.

The GMP+ certified company must undertake the following measures if a QM-Milch action limit or QM-Milch rejection limit of the delivered feed is exceeded:

7.3. Providing information

QM-Milch, respectively the regional services, have the right to ask the GMP+ certified companies to provide information regarding the size and the severity of the incident. The certified companies are obligated to provide the required information, for instance regarding their efforts to find the root cause of the contamination and regarding the results of the extra inspections. This information is treated confidentially by QM-Milch.

The certified companies must keep documented information to demonstrate that the processes have been carried out as required.

QM-Milch and the regional services may decide to pay a visit to the GMP+ certified companies to have themselves convinced of the measures taken on site. The certified companies are obligated to provide the required relevant information. This information is handled confidentially by QM-Milch.

In addition, GMP+ International notifies QM-Milch e. V. the same way, of exceedances observed in other proprietary inspections and uploaded to the GMP+ Monitoring database. This applies both to § 6.2 and § 6.3 of the Country Note.

Feed Support Products

That was a lot of information to digest and one might ask, what is the next step? Luckily we can offer support for the GMP+ Community when doing this. We provide support by means of various tools and guidances but as each company has a shared responsibility to feed safety, and therefor tailor-made solutions cannot be offered. However, we do help by explaining requirements and provide background information about the requirements.

We have developed various supporting materials for the GMP+ Community. These include various tools, ranging from Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists to webinars and events.

Supporting materials related to this document (Guidelines and FAQ’s)

We have made documents available which give guidance to the GMP+ requirements as laid down in the module GMP+ FSA and GMP+ FRA. These documents give examples, answers to frequently asked questions or background information.

GMP+ Monitoring database

The GMP+ Monitoring database contains analysis results from you and other users. It is possible to generate reports based on this data. We have a manual and a frequently asked questions document available.