Feed Testing: Low Protein, Chinese Feed Better

China's Ministry of Agriculture announced feed testing results for 2011. The report says that quality of feed continued its trend of improvement in 2011. However, the report highlighted continuing problems with failure of compound feed and premixes to meet stated protein content. The results show that illegal substances like clenbuterol and melamine were detected in only a few samples, but the report notes that these illegal additives remain a "hidden danger."

Of 18,032 samples tested, 95.5 percent were found compliant with standards. The lowest compliance rates were found for premixes, especially for trace elements and vitamins.

The Ministry posted seven lists of companies whose feed failed tests. The first list contains 68 samples of various kinds of feeds in which heavy metals, aflatoxins and salmonella were detected. Other lists include companies supplying uncompliant fish meal, additives that failed to include vitamins stated on labels, companies supplying uncompliant imported feeds, imported pet food, and companies whose feed contained banned additives. A "black list" of imported feeds included companies from South Korea, Spain, Italy, the U.S., Switzerland, Belgium and France. The results reported a higher rejection rate for imported feeds than for domestic feeds.

China 2011 Feed Testing Results
Description	Samples	Compliant
	Number	Percent
All feed samples	18,032	95.51
Commercial feed samples	6,686
Compound feed	2,469	98.06
Concentrate feed	1,117	96.51
Additive and premix	786	87.91
Premix		89.70
Trace elements in premix		80.19
Vitamins		81.63
Domestic feed additives	591	96.62
Imported feed additives	203	91.13
Animal-based feeds	697	90.39
Plant-based feed materials	597	98.49
Forbidden additives detected	samples (number)	samples detected (percent)
Production, marketing and users	10,346
Malachite green	440	0.45
Clenbuterol	4,795	0.91
Melamine	2,514	0.08
Ractopamine	na	0.00
Salbutamol	na	0.00
Sudan red dye	na	0.00
Furazolidone	na	0.00
Diazepam	na	0.00
Diethylstilbestrol	na	0.00
Chloromycetin	na	0.00
	samples	samples passed (percent)
Feed label testing	8,489	93.96
Compound feed	3,522	95.49
Additives and premix	888	95.61
Domestic additives	556	98.38
Imported additives	203	94.09
Imported pet food	199	98.99
Domestic pet food	27	96.30
Animal-based feeds	603	77.94
Plant-based feed	540	94.81
Concentrate supplements	1,431	98.32
Heavy metals		Detected (percent)
Lead	4,055	0.25
Cadmium	2,514	0.16
Fish meal chromium	353	3.68
Salmonella	4,061	0.10
AflatoxinB1	3,344	0.21
		Compliant (percent)
Pet food imports	199	99.50