The European Commission has endorsed an updated code for the green labelling of animal feed to drive sustainability in sustainable animal feed production.

The code was updated by Copa-Cogeca and FEFAC, organisations representing European farmers, co-operatives and compound feed manufacturers and was supported by FEFANA who represent the speciality feed ingredients business in Europe.

The code was put to the European Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) and was assessed for 12 months.

Improvements to the labelling of animal feed will see the Global Feed Lifecycle Assessment Institute database used to measure feed’s carbon footprint. The PEFCR Feed for Food Producing Animals methodology will also be used to measure the environmental footprint of feed.

The new code will see feed producers provide details on feed across 16 environmental impact categories including water use and biodiversity.

It was endorsed by SCoPAFF in December.

Major milestone

A joint press statement from the farmer and producer organisations said: “The endorsement of the upgraded code represents a major milestone in the path toward sustainable feed and livestock production. Thanks to this harmonised framework, the feed sector is now better positioned to contribute to reducing the emissions of feed and livestock production.”

Feed producers who implement the code will be able to include the Environmental Footprint data including the carbon dioxide equivalents produced per 1,000kg of feed on the feed label. These figures include carbon emissions for land use and land transformation. There will also be a QR code on the label which can be scanned to provide information on the methodology used to calculate the footprint and on other impact categories.

It should be noted that the data included for Ireland in the Global Feed Lifecycle Assessment institute is not based on real figures.

Carbon footprint

It is based on figures for other countries and adjusted for Ireland’s higher yields. However, Teagasc released figures last year on the carbon footprint of Irish cereals and oilseed rape.

These figures were much lower than the ones included in the global database. This is something that should be worked on to ensure Ireland’s sustainable grain is getting the credit it deserves. More research will likely be needed to update these figures.

You can read more on the Teagasc research and see the carbon footprint figures for Irish grain here.

Irish farmers will be able to calculate their own carbon footprint from the second half of 2025 using a Teagasc tool.