Conformity Assessment of Cattle and Chicken Feeds with regard to Labelling Requirements in Botswana

The present study ascertained feed distributors’ awareness of cattle and poultry (chicken) feed standards and also ascertained if labels on cattle and chicken feeds comply with Botswana standards. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was administered to 20 randomly selected agricultural shops (feed distributors) in Gaborone, Molepolole and Thamaga. In addition, data were collected through direct observation and by reviewing secondary sources. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 19. Results showed that 70% of the respondents were aware of cattle and poultry (chicken) feed standards. In addition, 85% of the respondents were aware of feed labelling requirements. In this study, all feed labels complied with poultry (BOS 8-1: 2008) and cattle (BOS 25: 2008) standards on instructions for use, manufacture dates, batch number, country of origin, net mass, name and address of the manufacturer and name of the feed but not on other aspects such as expiry dates, nutrient composition and a warning on urea. Three feed distributors in the present study repackaged feeds into 10 kg plastic bags which had no labels or were wrongly labelled. Also, 15% of feeds had expiry dates instead of best before date as stated in BOS 8-1:2008 and BOS 25:20008. Expiry dates and/or best before dates on the feed labels ranged from 3 to 10 months, indicating that the quality of diets could have been compromised thus affecting animal performance. These results suggest that there is need to monitor implementation of standards, as well as, to create awareness on animal feed standards.