Management of Surplus Food & Products for Animal Feed Procedure

Control alternative-use material without losing product status

The procedure treats surplus food, by-products and downgraded materials as controlled product streams, not as material that can simply be released because it is no longer intended for ordinary sale. Production personnel handle, segregate and dispose of by-products, while Technical Management verifies their condition before they proceed to an intended use or disposal route.

Where by-products do not meet safety or legality conditions, the procedure links the affected material to non-conforming product controls and requires an authorised disposition decision before further handling under this procedure. That decision may include downgrading to animal feed, disposal or another permitted outcome, preserving the distinction between identifying an alternative route and confirming that the material is suitable for that route.

Protect customer branding and customer-specific conditions

Surplus customer-branded products are controlled to protect brand integrity and customer-defined requirements. The procedure connects their management with approved product specifications and requires disposal or alternative release to follow the relevant customer-specific conditions.

Where packed surplus product is to enter an alternative supply pathway, customer brand names are removed under factory control before release beyond site custody unless customer authorisation permits the branding to remain. Production personnel perform the removal, and Technical Management verifies that removal is complete or that the required authorisation is in place before the product proceeds.

Assess redistribution before release

Products redirected to staff, charities or other organisations are brought within defined safety, legality and traceability controls. For customer-branded products that do not meet specification, release is permitted only after Technical Management confirms that prior consent has been obtained from the brand owner. Production personnel then control release so that product is not distributed without that approval.

Quality Personnel assess products designated for redistribution to confirm fitness for consumption at the point of release and verify that applicable legal requirements are met. Products failing those conditions are prevented from distribution and managed through non-conforming product controls, with corrective and preventive action used where legal non-compliance is identified.

Traceability is also retained across these alternative routes. Production personnel maintain the traceability linkages, and Technical Management verifies that traceability is maintained for products distributed to staff, charities or other organisations in accordance with the wider traceability procedure.

Keep animal-feed material separate from waste

By-products and downgraded or surplus materials intended for animal feed are subject to specific segregation and storage controls. The procedure requires these materials to remain physically segregated from waste streams, protected from contamination by waste materials and managed in accordance with applicable legislative requirements for feed materials.

Segregation is maintained through defined storage locations and controlled movement arrangements implemented through the site layout, product-flow and segregation procedure. Where loss of segregation or contamination risk is identified, the affected material is controlled through the non-conforming product process rather than being allowed to continue through the feed route without assessment.

Define responsibility across assessment, verification and handling

The procedure allocates responsibility across the functions that influence alternative-use decisions. Senior management provides the resources, infrastructure and organisational arrangements needed for safe and compliant management of by-products, surplus products and materials intended for animal feed.

Technical and quality management establish the controls, define and verify safety, legality and fitness-for-consumption criteria, confirm customer-specific requirements and authorisations, and verify traceability where products are distributed outside normal supply. Production and operations management implement handling, segregation, disposal, debranding and controlled release arrangements, while Quality Personnel assess redistributed product and prevent release where safety or legality cannot be confirmed.

That allocation is commercially important because the document separates operational handling from technical assessment, customer or brand-owner authorisation, release control and traceability verification. The procedure therefore gives manufacturers a clearer basis for deciding who may move material, who verifies status and what must happen when a proposed route is not supported.

Connect surplus-product decisions with the wider FSQMS

The procedure is deliberately connected to other FSQMS controls without taking over their scope. Non-conforming product controls govern affected product status and disposition where material is unsafe, illegal, unfit for consumption or otherwise non-compliant. Record completion and traceability procedures govern the evidence and traceability systems needed to support release, disposal or redistribution. Layout, flow and segregation controls support the physical separation of feed materials from waste and other unsuitable materials.

For technical and operational teams, this creates a practical interface between surplus-product management and the wider management system: alternative use is only meaningful when the material remains identified, authorised, traceable and physically controlled through the route selected.