The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development provides guidelines for the Government’s Decree No. 39/2017/ND-CP dated April 04, 2017 on management of feeds.
Main ingredients of complete feeds and concentrated feeds for livestock, poultry and aquaculture, concentrate feeds for grass-fed livestock are crude protein and total lysine.
Main ingredients of complete feeds for ornamental animals are crude protein.
Main ingredients of feeds refer to a determinant of useful effects and attributes of products which is announced by the manufacturer and specified on the label or attached technical documentation.
New feeds must undergo testing following suitable procedures established by the Directorate of Fisheries and the Department of Livestock Husbandry and promulgated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In case procedures are yet to be promulgated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, testing shall be carried out following the procedures established by the testing facility and approved by the testing outline assessment council established by the Directorate of Fisheries or the Department of Livestock Husbandry. The testing procedures must satisfy the following requirements:
1. Initial inspection: Chemical composition, nutrients, toxic substances of the feeds tested according to the announced quality standard, relevant technical regulations and at the request of the experiment outline assessment council must be analyzed under laboratory conditions.
2. Assessing effects of the product on livestock in terms of its growth, development, productivity and on the environment and fulfillment of the following requirements:
a) Testing shall be carried out for at least one breeding cycle or breeding period. Each test shall be repeated at least 03 times;
b) The testing must be provided suitably for specific animal and its age.
c) Uniformity in techniques must be ensured during the testing: the quality of breeds undergoing testing must satisfy relevant technical standard and regulation; the rearing density must be compliant with technical standards and regulations issued by the competent authority. The tested animals and reference animals must be breeded in the same manners. The only difference is testing feeds.
3. Monitoring criteria include:
a) Assessment of livestock’s growth, development, productivity;
b) Survival rate, health status through the stages of livestock’s growth;
c) Feed conversion ratio;
d) Residues of antibiotics and other toxic substances in livestock products and environment (specify in the testing outline);
dd) Assessment of changes in environmental indicators in the course of aquaculture related to product characteristics (for aquaculture feeds);
e) Other relevant criteria (if any).