ISSUE FOCUS 54 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2024 Malaysia with a production capacity of 3 000 tons of insect-based products per year. Ensuring feed safety is crucial for Veolia Bioconversion Malaysia to meet regulatory requirements, maintain the confidence of feed customers and uphold industry standards for insects. Although there is no international standard for insects set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), our approach has been to apply appropriate quality management principles demonstrating that we are operating in a feed safety environment. We are ISO 22000:2018 certified, a globally recognised food safety management system, with a strong emphasis on risk assessments. We follow strict quality control, provide ongoing staff training/education and adapt the best practices from the food industry. As such, we implement the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles by identifying hazards and critical control points (CCP) in our production process. Our production line is equipped with sensors that monitor the process and parameters impacting on critical control points during the drying and packing steps. Additionally, our plant is GMP+ certified, ensuring consistent adherence to international quality standards. We are committed to IPIFF Good Hygiene Practices on biosecurity by protecting our building and premises from external environmental risks, such as flooding, pollution, pests and diseases. We have designed and built our plant with specific measures to prevent the escape of insects. By applying all these stringent standards and complying with EU and FDA regulations5, we are able to export our high quality, consistent products to the regulated markets. CHALLENGES IN INSECT PRODUCTION The quality of our insect products is determined not only by the nutritional value but also by the controls implemented during the manufacturing process. Insect-based ingredients production consists of three steps: farming, harvesting and processing. It is crucial to monitor them and be compliant with feed regulations. Our integrated model guarantees complete traceability at every step of our production. On site, we handle all three steps and we ensure that Black Soldier Fly are farmed under controlled hygienic conditions. We implement sanitary processing techniques to limit safety risks. We focus on the quality of the substrate used to feed the Black Soldier Fly larvae. We are regularly testing it to guarantee that they don’t contain any physical, chemical and microbiological contaminants (e.g foreign materials, heavy metals, dioxins, pesticides residues, mycotoxins…)6. We have also established a strong relationship with our substrate suppliers and share the best practices through production, transportation and storage. We continuously monitor the moisture content and systematically perform toxicological tests on all batches of feeding substrate. In addition, our process includes effective treatments such as high-temperature blanching and drying, which are critical steps in controlling microbial pathogens. Each batch of our products is marked at every stage of the production process to ensure full traceability and to comply with microbiological safety standards and required residue limits stipulated in the relevant regulations7. As an establishment registered in the TRACES system, which is required to export animal products to the European market, Veolia Bioconversion Malaysia undergoes regular veterinary and sanitary inspections by the local Malaysian authorities through the Disease Control and Veterinary Biosecurity Division of the Department of Veterinary Services. OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION Beyond compliance, it is important to actively seek for innovative solutions to improve quality and safety. We have improved our breeding and production through
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