Category Archives: Animal by-products

1. Introduction The use of meat and bone meal for poultry feed in Europe entered a new regulatory chapter in September 2021. Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372 reinstated the use of porcine and bovine-derived processed animal proteins — including MBM — in poultry compound feed for the first time since the BSE crisis imposed a blanket […]

1. Introduction Understanding meat and bone meal production is not an academic exercise for procurement managers — it is the foundation for evaluating whether a supplier’s product will perform to specification. The composition, digestibility, and microbiological safety of MBM are determined almost entirely by decisions made at the production stage: the ratio of bone to […]

1. Introduction Selecting the right fish meal supplier is not a price comparison exercise. Price is the variable that procurement managers see first — and the one that most reliably obscures the quality, compliance, and supply continuity risks that will determine whether a supply relationship performs across a full contract period. A fish meal supplier […]

1. What Is Meat and Bone Meal (MBM)? Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a rendered Category 3 animal protein produced from mammalian slaughter by-products that include both soft tissue fractions — muscle, organ meat, and connective tissue — and bone material that does not enter the human food chain. It is the bone fraction […]

1. Introduction The feather meal vs blood meal question is one of the most practically useful comparisons in Category 3 animal protein procurement — but only when it is framed correctly. These two ingredients are not competing alternatives to be chosen between. They are complementary protein sources that serve different functions in the same formulation […]

1. Introduction Feather meal is the most digestibility-variable animal protein ingredient in the B2B feed market. The hydrolysis process that converts raw keratin into a digestible protein source is the single production variable that determines whether a delivered batch performs in a feed formulation or fails to deliver its declared nutritional value. And it is […]

1. What Are Processed Animal Proteins (PAPs)? Processed animal proteins are protein-rich feed ingredients produced by rendering Category 3 animal by-products from approved slaughter and processing facilities. The term is a defined regulatory classification under EU feed law — not a commercial label — specifying both the origin of the raw material and the production […]

1. Introduction Fish meal prices are structurally elevated, Peruvian quota volatility is not going away, and European aquafeed compounders have been actively reformulating for over a decade. The question in 2025 is not whether to reduce fish meal inclusion — that decision was made commercially and operationally years ago by the leading aquafeed producers. The […]

1. Introduction The difference between fish meal producers who consistently deliver to specification and those who do not is rarely visible on a single COA. It shows up in batch-to-batch TVN variance, in antioxidant declarations that shift between deliveries, in sustainability certificates that expire between contract renewals, and in EU approval status that lapses without […]

1. Introduction The Category 3 label on a supplier’s documentation is the entry requirement, not the qualification. Every rendered protein supplier in the European feed market claims Category 3 animal by-products compliance. Fewer can demonstrate it at every link in the supply chain — from the approved rendering plant through the trading operation to the […]