ESA urges Norway to strengthen animal feed controls

A new report by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) recommends that Norway strengthen its controls on animal feed. The findings follow an audit in Norway from 6 to 15 October 2025.

The purpose of the audit was to verify that Norway's official control of animal feed complies with the applicable EEA legislation.

The audit found that procedures are in place for planning and carrying out official controls in approved feed establishments that produce feed for domestic animals such as cattle, pork and sheep. However, these controls are less effective because many non-compliances go undetected by the competent authority. These included:

• Incomplete separation of feed produced for cattle from feed produced for other animals using fish meal;

• Potential cross contamination of feed with veterinary medicines, and;

• Misleading labelling information.

In addition, ESA found that the current system does not cover controls in establishments that supply feed as a by-product of food production. As a result, no official controls are carried out in such establishments, including bakeries and breweries, allowing non-compliances to go undetected.

These non-compliances undermine the overall effectiveness of the control system and increase the likelihood that non-compliant feed is placed on the market.

In response to ESA's draft report, Norway has provided an action plan to address all the recommendations. This plan is attached to the report.

Food safety in the EEA

EEA law sets high standards for food and feed safety and for animal health and welfare.

ESA is responsible for monitoring how Iceland and Norway implement EEA rules on food safety, feed safety and animal health and welfare.

Consequently, ESA performs regular audits in both countries, while Liechtenstein is subject to a different surveillance system for food safety.

ESA's report can be found here.

For further information, please contact: