It’s been a foundational year for GMP+ International. We’ve built capacity, launched new offerings, and welcomed our 20,000th company.
I took the helm of GMP+ International just over a year ago, and I can honestly say the past year has been a fascinating, hectic, and truly lovely experience. Getting to know the market, our stakeholders, and my colleagues has given me so much hope for the future of our work.
We launched a support programme for Certification Bodies (CBs) to maintain auditor's qualifications. Once an auditor meets the minimum GMP+ knowledge requirements, we help CBs enhance their expertise using harmonisation materials from GMP+ International. This avoids repeated examinations and creates a stronger focus on supporting the knowledge and expertise of GMP+ auditors.
We also officially welcomed the 20,000th GMP+ Certified company. As I said at the time, this achievement is the product of three decades of collaboration, passion, and determination – not just from the GMP+ team, but also our hard-working Certification Bodies, stakeholders, and the thousands of feed professionals around the world who placed their trust in our Feed Certification scheme.
And, we’ve also been preparing the next iteration of our organisational strategy, which will go live in January. Can’t wait to tell you more about it.
But for now, I’d once again like to give the floor to a few of my colleagues to share their highlights from 2025.
Preparing for the future
In October, Thiago Hamberland stepped up to oversee the strategic direction and development of the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme.
“As 2025 draws to a close, GMP+ International focused on laying the foundation for future developments—strengthening our scheme and services to meet tomorrow’s challenges. This year, we also stepped up in sharing knowledge with auditors, ensuring clarity and consistency across the feed chain. Personally, I embraced my new role as Manager Scheme and Services, bringing practical knowledge of the scheme into strategic decisions. With these frameworks in place, 2026 will be about turning plans into action, driving innovation and collaboration to make feed safety and sustainability a shared reality worldwide.”
Thiago Hamberland
Manager Scheme & Services
Rapid response
A safe feed chain does not happen by itself – it takes a vigilant community. Incidents will always occur; the question is what you do when they happen and how can we keep feed safe for animals and, ultimately, consumers. That’s where GMP+ International, our systems, and our colleagues come in.
"This year, we’ve seen again how proactive measures and strong collaboration can make all the difference when it comes to managing feed safety incidents effectively. Thanks to the GMP+ requirement and guideline, companies were able to swiftly address two potentially incidents and prevent any wider impact on feed safety. Close communication between all parties involved, including certified companies, Certification Bodies and scheme owners, ensured transparency and a rapid response. These efforts highlight the importance of collaboration and vigilance in safeguarding our sector and preventing risks from escalating."
Liliana Quillama
Scheme & Customer Service Officer
Sustainable value chains
Our community asked us to play out part in making a more sustainable industry. This year our colleagues have been exploring significant proposals with companies and stakeholders that will underpin the feed value chain’s sustainability efforts.
“Our commitment to sustainability is stronger than ever. By involving various stakeholders and building on life cycle assessment methodology aligned with PEFCR feed guidelines, we are developing a harmonised, future-proof standard for feed environmental footprint. We have listened carefully to our stakeholders so to develop an international LCA Feed standard that responds directly to market needs and expectations. This approach ensures consistency, credibility, and progress, driven by collaboration and shared responsibility.”
Hasret Celebi
Scheme & Customer Service Officer
Truly international
This year we’ve also focused more on how we can support companies who are based in countries where feed safety systems and cultures are less developed. By taking a step-wise integration approach to GMP+ certification, we are able to support more companies in crucial markets to ensure they thrive as they produce safe and sustainable feed.
“This year, we focused on supporting more companies through a structured approach to GMP+ certification, starting with Brazil where we strengthened dialogue with MAPA (the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock), secured collaboration with AnimalCert, and deepened engagement with key market players through targeted seminars and company visits. In Asia, we continued strong engagement with companies and Certification Bodies while finalising the regional strategy for execution in 2026. A personal highlight was our two-day online Registered Consultants training, with record participation, clearly demonstrating the strength of our global expert community. Across regions, task forces, webinars and active participation in key industry events helped us keep us connected, informed and market relevant.”
"We have listened carefully to the needs of the users of the GMP+ Monitoring database. We have initiated changes to introduce a leaner architecture, enhanced usability, and innovative features to improve the overall user experience. This transformation is not a solitary effort; it is a collaborative undertaking involving the GMP+ Community and our development partners, all so that we can continue to provide tools that empower our community and support compliance with the highest standards of feed safety. The redesign of the GMP+ Company database follows the same approach and we hope you will enjoy using it soon in 2026."
Chao Zou
Scheme & Customer Service Officer
Keep feed safety culture strong in 2026
We know however that 2025 has been a challenging year for the feed industry. International trade suffered unexpected disruption, there was yet more uncertainty around sustainability legislation, and all against a backdrop of high competition and tight margins.
Economic pressures of the past have at times been accompanied by riskier practices which may result in more fraud. It’s important that everyone in the feed industry maintains a strong feed safety culture and ensures that uncertainties and pressures like these do not adversely affect the integrity of the feed chain.
Nonetheless, GMP+ International is always here to help. More than thirty years have passed since we embarked on this journey, spurred by the need to protect animals and humans alike from contaminated feed. It takes a community to make that possible, and as we close out this year, I want to thank all of you for continuing to protect the feed chain and working towards our shared goal of safe and sustainable feed, worldwide.
