At their 16th annual Meeting, IFIF and FAO further strengthened their long-standing collaboration to ensure safe, nutritious and sustainable feed and food.

The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held their 16th annual meeting at FAO Headquarters on 05-06 October 2017 to further strengthen their collaboration on critical issues to ensure safe, nutritious and sustainable feed and food. In the opening speech, Dr. Berhe Tekola, Director of the FAO Animal Production & Health Division reiterated their commitment to this longstanding partnership and agreed to continue to strengthen their work together to tackle the challenges facing the feed and food chain. Joel G. Newman, Chairman of IFIF, which is representing over 80% of the world’s feed production with feed related organizations and corporate members from around the globe, was the other main speechmaker. “The FAO focus on five strategic objectives, emphasis on working in a goal-oriented manner, and the FAO strong efforts reaching out to the private sector have made a tangible and positive difference in our already longstanding collaboration,” Newman highlighted. Daniela Battaglia, Animal Development Officer at the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO, said “This meeting addressed a number of critical issues of common interest, such as the need for capacity development to ensure feed safety and the importance of collaborating to tackle the containment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). FAO is committed to working with the private sector and feed operators and believes that they can valuably contribute to making the livestock and food sectors more responsible and sustainable to achieve important goals such as public health, and animal health and welfare.”