Medicated Feeds Legislation
Veterinary Medicines Regulations
Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 SI 2033
The Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMR) implement the EU legislation relating to medicated feeds and specified feed additives (SFAs) (i.e. coccidiostats, histomonostats and non-antibiotic growth promoters) used in feedingstuffs. They also implement the EU controls on veterinary medicines. Schedule 5 covers “Medicated feedingstuffs and specified feed additives.”
Veterinary Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (SI 599) amends Schedule 5 of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.
General guidance on the UK Veterinary Medicines Regulations, the EU Veterinary Medicines Regulations and EU Medicated Feed and Feedingstuffs Regulations is available from the VMD.
This includes guidance for manufacturers and suppliers of medicated feeds. Specifically, this is aimed at manufacturers and suppliers of premixtures and feedingstuffs containing veterinary medicinal products (VMPs), SFAs, premixtures and feedingstuffs containing SFAs, and complementary feedingstuffs containing SFAs, as implemented in Schedule 5 of the VMR. It also includes guidance to veterinary surgeons, keepers of animals and other members of industries involved in the use of VMPs and SFAs in animal feedingstuffs.
EU Medicated Feed Regulation
EU Regulation 2019/4 on Medicated Feed and EU Regulation 2019/6 on Veterinary Medicines
EU Regulation 2019/4 on Medicated Feed and EU Regulation 2019/6 on Veterinary Medicines came into force on 28 January 2022.
The implementation of these new regulations in Northern Ireland has been under discussion and the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) have announced that the regulations will not now be implemented on this date. The VMD announcement can be found here:
EU Regulations 2019/6 and 2019/4 will not be implemented in Northern Ireland
From 28 January 2022, the Regulations introduced a ban on the administration of antibiotics to groups of healthy animals across the EU.
The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) have published a response to aspects of this policy which can be found here:
RUMA response to new EU antibiotics policy - Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance
