EFSA FEEDAP Panel 185th Plenary — November 19-20 2025 Open Session
The EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) held its 185th Plenary Meeting on November 19-20, 2025, chaired by Prof. Roberto Edoardo Villa. The Open Session agenda was published by EFSA on 2025-12 (file: Open Session FEEDAP 185 Plenary meeting_for publication_0.pdf, 9.5MB).
This is the most authoritative pre-2026 statement of the FEEDAP Panel's regulatory direction for feed additives, including pet food additives under Reg (EC) 1831/2003. Three major guidance updates are in scope:
Agenda Item Highlights
Day 1 (November 19, 2025) — 14:00 onwards
| Time | Item No. | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | 8 | Welcome and Apologies |
| 14:05 | 9 | Brief introduction of Panel Members |
| 14:15 | 10 | Presentation of the EFSA guidelines for Observers |
| 14:20 | 11 | Workplan FEEDAP |
| 14:50 | 12 | Update on new mandates since the previous meeting |
| 15:00 | 13 | Feedback from the Scientific Committee/Scientific Panels, EFSA, the European Commission/EURL |
| 15:15 | 14 | One Substance One Assessment update |
| 15:45 | — | Coffee break |
| 16:15 | 15 | Ongoing activities in relation to applications for feed additives (Front Desk, Risk Assessment Logistics, Legal Affairs Units) |
Day 2 (November 20, 2025) — 09:00 onwards
| Time | Item No. | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | 17 | Update on the assessment of microorganisms (new guidance / MOPS2 / fermentation products) |
| 10:00 | 18 | Update on guidance documents (FAQs from EFSA to applicants) |
| 11:00 | — | Coffee break |
| 11:30 | 18.2 | Update on the Guidance on target animal safety |
| 11:30 | 18.3 | Update on the Guidance on characterisation |
| 11:50 | 19 | Update on PARNUTS |
| 12:20 | 20 | Any other business |
Three Major Guidance Updates (Pet Food Relevance)
1. Guidance on Safety for the Target Species (Major Revision)
The current Guidance on the Safety for the Target Species was originally issued in 2017. FEEDAP Panel identified five motives for revision:
- Enhancing considerations for tolerance trials — experience gained over recent years
- Extrapolation of safe levels from feed to water — risk: No MoS (Margin of Safety) + variable water intake = exposure > safe for feed
- Endpoints — statistical analysis, Overdose/Margin of Safety
- Expanding the list of additives for which safety may be presumed
- Use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) — moving forward with the 3R approach (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement of animal testing) — extrapolation of toxicological data from lab animals
This guidance update is directly relevant to pet food additives because target species safety assessments are required for all feed additives under Reg (EC) 1831/2003 Article 6 — including pet food additives (see companion topic eu-reg-1831-2003/01_article_6_categories_and_functional_groups).
2. Guidance on the Assessment of Microorganisms (Major Revision)
The FEEDAP Panel's microorganism guidance is undergoing revision along three threads:
- MOPS2 (Qualified Presumption of Safety — second update)
- Fermentation products — increasingly important for novel feed additives produced via precision fermentation
- New guidance on microorganisms — comprehensive update
This is highly relevant to probiotics / direct-fed microbials in pet food (e.g., *Enterococcus faecium*, *Lactobacillus* spp., *Bacillus subtilis* — many of which appear in the OpenFoodTox 3.0 SUB inventory as microorganism composition entries, see companion topic EFSA_OpenFoodTox_3_substance_to_dossier_mapping).
3. PARNUTS Update
PARNUTS = PARticular NUTritional Substances — a sub-category under EU feed law for feed with particular nutritional purposes (dietetic feeds, equivalent to "prescription pet food" in the US market). The 185th Plenary included a dedicated update on PARNUTS, indicating ongoing regulatory activity in this area (relevant to veterinary diet pet foods).
Related 2025 EFSA Activity
Beyond the 185th Plenary, 2025 EFSA activity included:
- 185th Plenary (2025-11-19/20): This meeting
- EFSA Strategy 2027: "Science, safe food, sustainability" — released late 2025
- EFSA Programming Document 2026-2028: Released December 2025; includes stock reduction plans for Food Additives and Feed areas
- FEEDAP stock (2026 outlook): 213 questions as of 2026, with "Human resources increase + Process leaning + Outsourcing scheme + Guidance update + Speed of RA" as the planned mitigation
- FEEDAP production: ~130 questions/year, with 120/year incoming (production lagging slightly)
Source
pdf-raw/efsa-plenary/efsa-feedap-185th-plenary-2025-11-20.pdf (EFSA official Open Session document, 9490872 bytes, downloaded 2026-07-21). Cross-confirmed against https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-12/Open%20Session%20FEEDAP%20185%20Plenary%20meeting_for%20publication_0.pdf.
For the underlying pet food additive regulations, see companion topics eu-reg-1831-2003/01_article_6_categories_and_functional_groups, EFSA_FEEDAP_pet_food_additives_dossiers, and EFSA_OpenFoodTox_3_* (16 topics). For related 2024-2025 EFSA opinions and re-evaluations, see companion topic EFSA_OpenFoodTox_3_FEEDAP_chemistry_breakdown.