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NARA staff and members participated in a trade mission last June in Morrocco. From left, Kent Swisher of NARA; Gregg Vincent from Fornazor; Kevin Baker with Darling Ingredients; a manager of Alf Sahel; Dana Johnson Downing of NARA; Dr. Yousef Mikou with Alf Sahel; Hayden Millward with Scoular; Sokayna El Allam with LixCap; Sophia Xue of Darling Ingredients; and Matthew Meredith of LixCap
has grown and technical workshops are being planned.
In January, during the International Protein Production & Processing Expo in Atlanta, several important Senegalese decision makers visited the NARA booth, including the president of the poultry industry in Senegal, the director of the largest feed mill and the head of the second largest feed mill along with its head nutritionist.
Dr. Charles Starkey, NARA’s vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, spoke with these visitors from Senegal and addressed their safety
concerns. Starkey detailed for the group the stringent requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the Association of American Feed Control Officials to ensure the safety of rendered products. He also spoke to them about nutrition, for instance, pointing out that animals need animal fats in their diets to get complete amino acids.
As of July, there is already pending regulation in Senegal to update its framework, and NARA is working closely with the Interprofessional Poultry Association of Senegal and others to ensure the updated version of the regulation is in alignment with industry needs regarding rendered products. NARA plans to hold a stakeholder forum in Senegal this September to reconnect with key contacts and engage new players.
After the meeting at IPPE, one of the feed mill directors from Senegal said, “NARA, you need to become evangelical about using rendered products. This makes a lot of sense.” That sentiment is sweet music to the ears of U.S. renderers, who look forward to partnering in the progress of so many African feed-related industries. R
Editor’s Note: For more information about NARA’s work in Africa, contact Dana Johnson Downing at ddowning@nara.org.
rendering industry, and some of its rendered products are going into local pet food formulations. It’s a small country so for these industries to grow, Tunisia must develop export markets. It does have some trading partners with exports to Turkey, the Middle East and, to a lesser extent, Egypt.
In order to grow its pet food industry, however, Tunisia will likely have to bring in more rendered products. Effectively no rendered product enters Tunisia today even though, as in Côte d’Ivoire, it’s possible on paper. The pet food industry is too small yet to need it, but the potential is there. On the other hand, Tunisia has a large aquaculture sector that, at least today, is not using rendered products for aquafeed formulations.
NARA’s plan is to spend more time in the country engaging with both sectors. The goal will be to jointly determine how to utilize Tunisia’s open framework for introducing the country to rendered product so its aquaculture sector can increase productivity and to create opportunities in the pet food sector.
Senegal
When NARA started initial outreach to stakeholders in Senegal, the country had a total feed ban inclusion — similar to the one that Morocco had. Since then, however, Senegal elected a new president whose administration is growth-oriented, open to developing local industry and working with international partners to enhance competitiveness. Another issue was a general lack of knowledge about rendered products, but interest
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The July signing of a landmark MOU between NARA and Cote D’Ivoire’s MIRAH included from left, Joshua Neiderman of the American Soybean Association; Dr Moussa Traoré with MIRAH; Ambassador Ibrahima Touré; Kent Swisher with NARA; Matthew Meredith of LixCap; and Juan Julio Gutierrez Rodriguez with USDA.