The conference, organised by BPEX and EBLEX and co-sponsored by the Foodchain & Biomass Renewables Association (Fabra), will examine ways in which the meat chain can unlock hidden value from animal by-products, often referred to as the ‘fifth quarter’.

Speakers drawn from the UK and wider European meat industries will explore practical ways in which education and regulatory change could help harness the green credentials of fuels, fats and feeds derived from the meat production chain.

According to Fabra Chief Executive Stephen Woodgate, the benefits of improved animal by-product utilisation extend beyond the raw material value of protein and fats derived through rendering.

“New research data has determined the carbon cost of processing animal by-products at the same time as Government is attributing favourable carbon offset values to the renewable fuels and energy we’re producing,” Mr Woodgate explains.

“Education is now needed throughout the meat chain to ensure that we maximise the financial and environmental benefits.  By ensuring, for example, that we channel raw material efficiently, we have the potential to open up new high-value markets for the premium grade by-products.”

‘Fifth Quarter – Go green for greater profits’ will focus on the practical steps food processors, abattoir operators, meat producers, and by-product processors can take to embrace green technology and renewable energy to increase profitability. The conference will be held on the 8th September 2010 in Warwickshire.

For more information contact Helen Strider at helen.strider@ahdbms.org.uk

The FSA in England will focus on its core remit of food safety policy and enforcement. The Department of Health will become responsible for nutrition policy in England, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will become responsible for Country of Origin Labelling, and various other non-safety-related food labelling and food composition policies in England.

The FSA was established as a non-ministerial Government Department in 2000. Its primary purpose was to secure food safety and provide vital advice to Government and to the public; a role that the Government believes must remain independent.

Reorganising in this way will contribute to the Government‟s objectives to improve efficiency, and is paramount to the key priority of improving the health of the nation by creating a public health service. To achieve this coherence, some policy-based functions can be brought „in house‟ to give a more coordinated approach on health and food issues.

Ministers and officials at the Department of Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are working closely with the FSA to implement the following changes:

Food Standards Agency

Retains a clearly defined departmental function focused on its core remit of food safety. This means that, on crucial issues of food safety, the independent advice from FSA experts would be final.

Retains current responsibility for nutrition and labelling policy in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Approximately 2,000 staff will remain at the FSA.

Lord Rooker, Chair of the FSA, said:

“Food safety and hygiene have always been at the heart of what the Agency does. They are our top priorities in protecting the interests of consumers.”

Department of Health

Nutrition policy will be transferred to the Department of Health. This includes front of pack nutrition labelling, such as Guideline Daily Amounts.

The transfer of nutrition policy into the Department of Health directly contributes to the Government‟s plans for public health. In the long-term, bringing policies ‘in house’ will enable better services to be created and clearer information to be given to the public.

The Department of Health will, as a result, be able to press industry to contribute more on improving the health of the nation. This includes reformulation, and provision of nutrition information in supermarkets and restaurants. Approximately 70 policy posts will move to the Department from the FSA.

Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, said:

“Our ambition is to create a public health system that truly helps people live longer and healthier lives. To achieve it, we can‟t stand still. Changes are inevitable.

“It’s absolutely crucial for the Food Standards Agency to continue providing independent expert advice to people about food safety. But bringing nutrition policy into the Department makes sense. It will enable a clear, consistent public health service to be created, as our Public Health White Paper later this year will set out.

“I believe – in the-long term – we’ll have a clearer and less bureaucratic system for public health. The end result will focus on turning expert advice and support into better health.”

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Country of Origin Labelling will transfer to Defra. This will support delivery of the Government‟s commitment to deliver honesty in food labelling and ensure that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from.

It will also support delivery of one of Defra‟s top priorities: Ministers‟ firm commitment to support and develop British farming and encourage sustainable food production, and promote increased domestic food production.

Other policy areas that will transfer to Defra include composition policy which is about agreeing the components and standards for characterising products such as honey, jam, chocolate, ice-cream or meat content of sausages). Approximately 25 policy posts will move to Defra from the FSA.

Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:

“It makes perfect sense to bring policy on food origin and associated labelling to Defra to sit with wider food policy. The Government has made very clear its commitment to clear and honest labelling – particularly origin labelling.

“These changes will enable the FSA to focus on food safety and it is right that this should stay in the hands of an independent body.”

For more information click here

ReFood is a network of plants which collects leftover and unsold food products and recycles them using the latest Anaerobic Digestion technology to create valuable new products – renewable energy and bio-fertiliser. This investment will allow PDM to grow their food waste solutions division.

For more information click here

Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said: “The European Union has made great progress in its battle against BSE and we are finally on the brink of eradicating the disease within the Union. Strong and comprehensive EU measures are to be credited for this progress”. The commissioner added: “This Roadmap is a reflection on strategy for the years to come: any changes to the BSE measures will not affect in any way our fundamental objectives to eradicate the disease and to protect the EU’s citizens”.

Areas of possible change:

The Road Map identifies six areas where changes to the current TSE measures could be made in the future:

• Specified Risk Materials (SRMs – i.e. organs that could harbour BSE infectivity): The EU SRMs list could be aligned with the international standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
• The feed ban: A certain tolerance level of processed animal proteins (PAP) could be introduced; provisions banning the use of certain PAP for animals such as pigs, poultry and fish (i.e. non-ruminants) could be removed without lifting the prohibition on intra species recycling (e.g. poultry meal could be fed to pigs and pig meal to poultry but not pig meal to pigs).
• Surveillance: The monitoring system could be better targeted by increasing gradually the testing age limits, or through various testing methods.
• Scrapie eradication measures: These could be brought in line with the latest scientific information, which could mean – among other things – adapting measures for atypical scrapie if data confirms that this scrapie strain is not contagious or continuing to encourage genetic control of the disease in sheep through breeding programmes.
• Cohort culling: As the number of BSE-positive animals has dropped to zero in 2009 the systematic cohort culling of cattle could be stopped and animals could be sold for consumption provided they are tested with negative results before entering the food chain.
• Ante-mortem and post-mortem tests: If ante-mortem tests become available the testing of live animals could be an option. This could be particularly helpful for herd certification purposes vis-à-vis small ruminants.

What’s next?

The first TSE Roadmap, a reflection paper adopted by the Commission in 2005, provided an outline of possible future changes to EU measures on TSEs in the short, medium and long-term. The majority of short and medium term actions envisaged in the first TSE Roadmap have been achieved and the positive trend already observed in 2005 in the BSE epidemic has continued since then.

The Commission’s goal for the coming years is to continue the review of the measures while assuring the highest level of food safety. Amendments to the TSE rules are, and will continue to be, taken following a step-by-step approach supported by a solid scientific basis provided by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

In setting its future strategy, the Commission is also obliged not to lose sight of other threats to animal and public health, such as Salmonella and Antimicrobial Resistance. The Commission, based on existing scientific evidence, believes there is a need to better prioritise actions taking into consideration the impact the various diseases have on public health. “The encouraging trends in relation to BSE merit a considered review of the opportunities to focus on these other threats,” concludes the Commission’s Communication to the EP and Council.

For more information, please visit:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/tse_bse/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/tse_bse/docs/roadmap_en.pdf

The PDM Group has further strengthened its relationship with SARIA Bio-Industries, one of Europe’s leading food-chain recycling businesses, as it announces SARIA has acquired a 10 per cent equity stake in the business. This investment and partnership will help to expand and accelerate the two companies’ expansion plans into ReFood – a network of anaerobic (AD) plants and food collection service across the UK.

Andy Smith, chief executive of the PDM Group comments: “We’re delighted to announce our close partnership with SARIA. We have worked together over the development of the ReFood brand and as their technical solutions provided to the food chain so closely replicates our own,  it made perfect sense to extend the relationship to the wider PDM business.”

ReFood is set to bring the latest industrial-scale AD technology to the UK and will dramatically increase the scale and scope of food waste recycling. PDM is the UK’s only food waste recycler able to offer completely integrated national collections, and its network of AD plants will add to its existing portfolio of food waste solutions.

Franz-Bernhard Thier, member of the board of SARIA Bio-Industries, adds: “We’re happy to be furthering our relationship with PDM. We have been growing our own European capacity for some time, having opened new AD plants in France and Germany over the last few months. We have been keen to have a position in the UK marketplace, but it is advantageous for us and PDM to work together and as a result we’ll be able to invest in and develop the UK’s fledgling food chain recycling infrastructure.”

ReFood UK complements the SARIA’s German model where four rurally-located AD plants are fed by a network of logistics centres which handle the waste from 60,000 collection points across the country. Planning permission has already been granted for the first ReFood UK AD plant, based at PDM’s head office in Doncaster and construction is set to start this summer.To find out more about ReFood, visit www.refood.co.uk

A second year for Fabra brings a fresh, new website that will be both easier to use as well as more informative about the work Fabra and its members are engaged in.

New features on the website include:

- Fabra News Section: This will be updated regularly with all the latest interesting news stories as well as press releases from our members.

- About Fabra Section: All the information you need to understand Fabra’s mission and the services its members can offer.

- Membership Section: Information about how to become a member of Fabra and the many benefits that includes.

In the coming months we will also be launching a new Fabra education initiative as well as a dedicated members area so be sure to sign up for the Fabra email alerts that will notify you of these developments.

The Fabra Team.

Through the partnership a direct power link provides renewable energy straight from PDM’s CHP plant to the neighbouring distribution centre on Widnes’ Multimodal Mersey Gateway. Furthermore, the partnership reduces around 7,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.

Tesco has leased the new 528,000 sq.ft. sustainable distribution centre, which will become operational this summer, to provide increased capacity to service its growing network of stores in the North West. Not only does this venture support both Stobart’s and Tesco’s sustainability objectives, the synergies between the three are further strengthened by the fact that PDM, as the UK’s largest food waste recycler, currently recycles all Tesco’s meat waste.

Juliette Bishop, corporate affairs manager, at Tesco said: “This venture is an ideal example of how sustainability is at the very core of the Tesco business and it’s great that we can demonstrate that our food waste is directly providing power back into our operations, helping us to reduce waste going to landfill and our carbon footprint.”

Stobart Group and PDM will be working together to offer Stobart’s customer base – predominantly food retailers – a sustainable recycling service for food waste. This reciprocal agreement will also be highly sustainable, with food waste back-hauled on Stobart vehicles to Widnes, meaning specific waste collections and therefore vehicle movements can be reduced.

Each year, PDM’s renewable energy CHP plant at Widnes recycles more than 230,000 tonnes of biomass fuels to generate renewable combined heat and power using biomass-to-energy technology. The biomass fuel is derived from food wastes and other bio-wastes produced from every stage of the food chain, from farm gate to dinner plate.

Robert Ratcliffe, director of the PDM Group, explained: “Using green power is becoming an important objective for many businesses, however it’s extremely rare that such power can come directly from anywhere other than the National Grid. This type of closed-loop biomass-to-energy relationship is rare in the UK and its great that we can work together to not only help bolster green credentials, but also enable Tesco to demonstrate that any food waste it generates is essentially helping to power it’s own supply chain.”

To find out more about the PDM Group, visit www.pdm-group.co.uk

These processes will generate approximately 8MW of non-intermittent electrical power from renewable resources so helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the food industry. The site itself will become carbon neutral in respect of its own power needs and aims to be the first ‘eco-park’ in the UK and Ireland with all companies using renewable power.

The plans will result in savings of 35,000 tonnes of CO2 each year and will divert some 500,000 tonnes of waste materials away from landfill over a ten year period so offering a significant environmental benefit.

It is predicted that up to 50 new jobs will be created during construction and operation of the plants whilst also safeguarding 1500 local jobs in the neighbouring abattoirs.

Linergy is looking to the future by maximising the harvest of energy from renewable biomass wastes. By facing the challenges now, we will preserve the best of what we have and increase confidence to invest for the future.

To find out more about Linergy and our plans for the future, visit www.linergy.co.uk