What is BS EN 17550 – Carotenoids in animal compound feed and premixtures about?
When it comes to the health of livestock and poultry and enhancing the quality of end products such as eggs, meat and milk, using safe and reliable animal feed plays a vital role.
BS EN 17550 is a European Standard that discusses methods of sampling and analysis of animal feeding stuffs.
BS EN 17550 specifies a reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic with UV detection (RP-HPLC-UV) method for the simultaneous determination of four authorized carotenoids in fish compound feed and fish premix, namely astaxanthin (AXN), canthaxanthin (CXN), adonirubin (ADR) and astaxanthin dimethyldisuccinate (AXN DMDS), and of six authorized carotenoids in poultry feed and poultry premix, namely canthaxanthin (CXN); capsanthin (CSN), ethyl ester of beta-apo-8'-carotenoic acid (BACARE), citranaxanthin (CIXN), lutein (LUT) and zeaxanthin (ZEA) at levels ranging from approximately 2 mg/kg to approximately 4 500 mg/kg (depending on the carotenoid). Beta-carotene (BCAR), authorized in compound feed and premixes for all animal species, was also added to the scope.
BS EN 17550 is applicable to feed produced using natural and synthetic feed additives.
Xanthophyll esters like those of lutein, zeaxanthin and capsanthin that might be present in feed materials are not authorized feed additives and therefore not part of the scope of BS EN 17550.
Who is BS EN 17550 – Carotenoids in animal compound feed and premixtures for?
BS EN 17550 on the determination of carotenoids in animal compound feed and premixtures is useful for:
- Manufacturers of animal compound feed and premixtures
- Quality control authorities
- Veterinary food product research and testing laboratories
- Animal health and safety agencies
- Regulatory authorities
- National bodies
- Certification bodies
Why should you use BS EN 17550 – Carotenoids in animal compound feed and premixtures?
Carotenoids are essential anti-oxidants that play an important role in animal health and reproduction. Animals cannot usually synthesize carotenoids themselves, so they need to receive them in their diet.
The analytical procedure recommended in BS EN 17550 is fit for the purpose of quantitation of declared carotenoids and labelling confirmation.
BS EN 17550 walks you through best practices to conduct the test procedure, while providing the necessary and accurate methods to calculate the target carotenoid content in animal compound feed and premixtures.
The method described in BS EN 17550 aims at constituting a tool for the effective control of carotenoid in feed by the competent authorities in the frame of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003. Making use of the properties of the isosbestic wavelength for quantification, the method allows, in laboratory routine conditions, determining the sum of all isomers for each carotenoid authorized in poultry or fish feed. This approach can result in higher analytical variation of quantitative results in some matrices, and analysis should be repeated by an alternative method if the obtained variation significantly deviates from data presented in BS EN 17550. These alternative methods may be those optimized for the measurement of single carotenoids authorized under Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 and available from the European Union Reference Laboratory for Feed Additives.
