Under the Food Hygiene Regulation (852/2004) all food businesses, and this includes all breweries large or small, should have been registered since 1st January 2005 with their local authority. If you have registered already under the Food Hygiene Regulation then there is no need to register again under the Feed Hygiene Regulation. SIBA members should check if they have or not and get some documentary evidence to show they are registered as some authorities will issue registration numbers whilst others do not seem to bother.

Registration of the Food Premises allows you to continue to supply your co-products to farmers from the 1st January 2006 so act now.

You will required to keep a record of the spent grain you supply and to whom and also undertake a risk assessment to ensure your co-product does not become contaminated or in any other way un-fit for feed purposes. The preferred method of documentation is Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).

Some, possibly even the majority, of farmers may still require you to be accredited to a scheme that certifies your spent grain as fit for use. Much has been said about the high cost of the FEMAS accreditation and auditing scheme but the BFBi has announced a new HACCP based scheme that will hopefully prove to be more cost effective for smaller brewers and this should be up and running by the new year. More details will be posted on the web site as soon as the scheme becomes available.

I suggest all brewers talk to their farmers now and find out if they need to be accredited. As soon as details become avilable secretariat will advise all members about the BFBi scheme.