Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, consolidate with amendments the Feeding Stuffs (Sampling and Analysis) Regulations 1982 as amended and implement–

(a)in full, the following European Community Directives–

(b)save insofar as they relate to the determination of zootechnical additives in feeding stuffs, the following European Community Directives–

2.  The principal changes made by the Regulations are as follows–

(a)certain provisions in Directive 76/371/EEC on sampling of feeding staffs are now fully implemented (regulation 3 and Schedule 1);

(c)parallel EC requirements as to analysis of feeding staffs contained in that Article are implemented (regulation 6 and Schedule 2);

(d)in accordance with new EC requirements–

(i)previous EC methods of analysis relating to the detection of lupin alkaloids and the determination of thiamine, ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid are excluded, as are (with effect from 1 November 1999) EC methods for starch (pancreatic method), volatile mustard oil, theobromine, vitamin A and vitamin K3 (menadione),

(ii)a new method of analysis for the determination of amino acids is added and a revised method for oils and fats substituted for the existing one, and

(iii)procedures on the detection and estimation of animal constituents in feeding stuffs are introduced,

(regulation 6 and Schedule 2);

(e)particular national methods of analysis relating to magnesium (gravimetric method) and calcium (atomic absorption method) are no longer covered (regulation 6 and Schedule 2);

(f)the qualifications prescribed, for the purposes of section 67(5) of the Agriculture Act 1970, as those which a person must have in order to be appointed as an agricultural analyst or deputy agricultural analyst are amended by–

(i)prescribing that, as an alternative to being a Chartered Chemist, he may instead possess a Mastership in Chemical Analysis awarded by the Royal Society of Chemistry; and

(ii)deleting the (now obsolete) reference in the corresponding provision in the 1982 Regulations to section 11 of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1926,

(regulation 5).

3.  The Regulations also revoke the previous Regulations (regulation 10) and include minor and drafting changes.