AN UPDATED 'Memorandum of Understanding' has been signed by the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate extending the scope and duration of ‘Earned Recognition’ for the Agricultural Industries Confederation's trade assurance schemes.

The three schemes benefitting are the Feed Materials Assurance Scheme, covering the sourcing and production of feed ingredients; the Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops, which deals with what happens to grains and pulses when they leave the farm to the end user; and the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme, which covers the production and delivery of compounds feeds and the supply of feeds to the farm.

The award of earned recognition aims to reduce the inspection and administration burden on businesses that are compliant with approved standards such as those set by the AIC schemes. At the same time, it enables enforcement activity to focus on less compliant businesses. A key benefit for agri-supply businesses that participate in the AIC schemes is a reduced frequency of intervention by the relevant enforcement authority.

“This is good news for participants in AIC’s trade assurance schemes,” said AIC Services managing director John Kelley. “AIC has worked closely with the relevant competent authorities to ensure our schemes evolve to meet their needs in delivering product and ingredient assurance in the food and feed sectors.”