The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will keep the interim maximum of 3,000 milligrams of zinc per kilogram in starter feeds for young pigs while it reviews new scientific and technical information from Canada's pork sector, Farms.com reported. The decision puts off a proposed cut to 300 mg/kg, the level already set for most swine feeds under the Feeds Regulations, 2024.
Feed manufacturers and pork producers had told the agency that the lower limit could cause problems when feeding piglets in the starter phase. The CFIA is extending the interim maximum while it weighs that information and decides on a long-term approach. The material includes a submission from the Canadian Pork Council on zinc's possible role in piglet health and performance, which will be assessed together with the wider scientific evidence before any permanent decision.
For producers, existing feeding practices can carry on for now. The CFIA said current evidence shows no safety concern in keeping the 3,000 mg/kg interim maximum during the review, and that it will keep consulting the feed and pork sectors and give suppliers and farmers enough notice of any change.
The limit has a history. Under the former Feeds Regulations, 1983, swine feed was generally capped at 500 mg/kg of zinc, but a customer-formula exemption allowed more when a producer asked. The Feeds Regulations, 2024, published on 3 July 2024, removed that exemption and set maximum nutrient values: 300 mg/kg of zinc for most swine diets, with the interim 3,000 mg/kg kept for starter feeds to ease the transition and accommodate established piglet feeding practice.
The agency's assessment of zinc, including the zinc oxide used in piglet diets, is still under way, and the current interim limit stays in force for starter swine feeds until it is finished.
Photo: Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Farms.com
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