Alltech applauds EU approval of selenium in animal feed
The European Commission has published a scientific opinion on the addition of organic selenium to the animal feed. The approval process involved an extensive review of the current scientific research, in relation to the benefits for humans, in consuming foods enriched with organic selenium.
These claims can only be used if the selenium enrichment is via the animal’s feed. This means that the animal must be fed with an approved source organic of selenium such as Alltech’s Sel-Plex, providing natural enrichment of the food product. Doing so allows the agriculture industry a unique opportunity to differentiate dairy, meat and egg products on the market, while simultaneously contributing to consumers’ health and overall well-being.
The approval of the human health claims are based on Alltech’s submission of a technical dossier, under article 13.1 of regulation 1924/2006, to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which demonstrated health benefits from milk, meat and eggs. EFSA reviewed the claims and gave their positive opinion in 2009. In 2012 the European Commission approved the human health claims which will allow producers to market their products with the following statements:
- Enrichment with organic selenium such as Sel-Plex:
- Contributes to the normal function of the immune system
- Contributes to normal thyroid function
- Contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress
- Contributes to normal spermatogenesis
“This approval comes as no surprise to us. We have been working on the enrichment of food products with Sel-Plex for the past 10 years and the European Commission has now approved our research on the impact on human health” said Richard Murphy, director of research at Alltech’s European Bioscience Centre.
“The claims take both animal health and consumer health into consideration” said Patrick Charlton, Alltech’s vice president for Europe. “We are therefore able to support the immune system of the animal during production, while also differentiating the final product in the market and contributing to human health,” he continued.
For more information click to Alltech
or read the EFSA scientific opinion
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