The GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance scheme (GMP+ FSA) is a scheme for assuring the safety of feed in all links of the feed chain. It is an international scheme which is applied worldwide.

The creation and the development of the scheme was initially the result of a demand within the successive links in the animal production chain for better control of feed safety. In 1992 GMP+ started with the certification of the links for the farmer (processing industry) and in the course of time, also because of the damage caused by incidents involving impurities, this was extended in 2002 to certification of the entire feed chain.

A better insight into the risks involved in raw materials was required. This by means of certification of the raw material links but also by charting the risks involved in the raw materials in a centralised way. As of 1 January 2004, only known feed materials were allowed to be purchased by GMP+ certified companies.

In addition, various information sources have been developed over the years which can be used in the implementation of the GMP+ certificate in a company; in connection herewith one might think of the Database of Undesirable Substances (DOS) and Fact Sheets containing background information on undesirable substances. These information sources were available separately and were therefore sometimes hard to find on the website. With the introduction of the Feed Safety Database (FSD) in 2010, all the information can be consulted on one single platform.

We used to have DRV & DOS and now we have FSD. FSD is an interactive database, which is part of the GMP+ FSA scheme. The FSD contains various components of the GMP+ FSA scheme: risk assessments, monitoring results, product standards and fact sheets. All the feed materials included in the FSD are considered to be controllable and for that reason can be used safely in the feed sector.

The Feed Safety Database is meant as a helping hand extended to all (future) GMP+ companies to assist them in drafting their own company-specific risk assessments. The FSD is also meant as a reference for auditors within the framework of the GMP+ certification. The database can be consulted as a source of knowledge.