Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice soliciting public opinions on the revision of the Code for the Safe Use of Feed Additives, revising and improving the regulations on the safe use of trace elements such as zinc and copper, and soliciting public opinions. In the soliciting manuscript of revised opinions, the upper limit of copper feed for piglets was lowered from 200mg/kg to 125mg/kg. The upper limit of zinc in feed for newly added piglets and sows is 150mg/kg, while the upper limit of zinc in feed for other breeds is reduced to different degrees. While the European Union is still debating whether to ban high zinc within five years, China is at the forefront of The Times. It can be seen that the ministry of Agriculture is increasingly strict with the quality and safety requirements of the feed industry. Micronutrient nutrition management is no longer just a matter of alleviating mineral deficiencies. Improper use of trace elements will not only have adverse effects on animal health and production performance, but also harm to the environment will directly become an obstacle to human health and the development of animal husbandry.
The policy revision of zinc and copper in livestock and poultry feed is to support the national pollution prevention and control of livestock and poultry breeding
In 2012, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture compiled the 12th Five-Year Plan for The Prevention and Control of Pollution from Livestock and Poultry production, which stipulated that the use of heavy metals such as zinc, copper, chromium and arsenic in feed should be strictly controlled. In March 2014, the General Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of The People's Republic of China (MEP) issued a suggestion letter on solicting the National environmental protection standard "Emission Standards for Poultry and Poultry Industry", in which pollutant items (emission limits, mg/L) for emission control were added: in addition to the original standard, total zinc (2.0) and total copper (1.0) were added. After the formulation of pollutant discharge standards, the Ministry of Agriculture will now revise the "Safe Use of Feed Additives", which sets an upper limit on the amount of zinc and copper added, so that livestock and poultry manure emissions further meet the standard.
The revision of the policy of adding copper and zinc in livestock feed conforms to the current situation of the industry
On April 17, 2014, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources issued a national soil pollution survey bulletin, in which it was shown that the main reasons for soil pollution or exceeding the standards were the man-made activities such as industry, mining, agriculture and the high background value of soil environment. In terms of pollutants exceeding the standard, the point exceeding rates of cadmium, mercury, arsenic, copper, lead, chromium, zinc and nickel were 7.0%, 1.6%, 2.7%, 2.1%, 1.5%, 1.1%, 0.9% and 4.8%, respectively. Since 2016, Ottaway has conducted a sampling survey of heavy metals in the feces of large farms in China. According to the standards of developed countries in Europe and The United States, copper and zinc in the dried pig feces are up to 5 times and 39 times the standard. 100% of the samples have detected heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic.
One of the main causes of high emission of zinc and copper is the excessive addition of trace elements in feed. Excessive minerals in the diet and trace elements that are not used by livestock and poultry bodies are discharged into the environment with feces, and they are deposited in soil and water, which have adverse effects on the environment. This leads to the pollution of the environment. The Ministry of Agriculture issued the "Safe Use of Feed Additives" from the source to control excessive zinc, copper additives.
After the trace element limit addition and the domestic livestock breeding pollution control standard another challenge - trace element price rise
In 2017, the price of trace elements fluctuated significantly. Considering the environmental pressure during the production process of trace elements, the price of trace elements had increased in different proportions by August this year. Among them, the price of zinc oxide and zinc monohydrate sulfate had increased significantly, by 35% and 57% respectively compared with the average price last year. After bottomed in July, anhydrous copper sulphate prices rose to a high. The average price in August was 13.29 yuan/kg, up 26% from last year's average price. Ferric sulphate monohydrate and manganese sulphate monohydrate have shown relatively small price fluctuations, rising 16% and 9% respectively from last year's average price. Trace element additive is an unattainable part of animal husbandry feed. With the increase of its price, it is wise for breeding enterprises to choose otchi ® organic trace element with low additive amount, high absorption rate and low emission while pursuing cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.
