This is how animal by-products can be used as pet food

(Photo: Pixabay)

In certain cases, Hungarian and EU legislation provides the possibility of feeding animal by-products with controllable risks to dogs and cats.

Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and Council on establishing health rules for animal by-products and products derived from them and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002 and No. 45/2012 (V. 8.) Pursuant to the VM decree, the use of food waste (category 3 by-product of animal origin) for special feeding purposes can only be used for dogs and cats in the following cases:

• dogs or packs of hunting dogs from recognized kennels, which are listed as breeding animals in breeding certified by a recognized breeding organization operating in Hungary, and
  can be passed on to licensed shelter dogs and cats.

In practice, dogs in shelters (including foundations) and dogs from recognized kennels can only be fed animal by-products of category 3.

The deviation regarding the feeding of dogs in shelters can only be applied with the special permission of the competent authority, after registration and after the assessment of public and animal health risks. The permit for different feed use can only be issued in the case of animal farms, including those that keep pets, where no food-producing farm animals are kept.

Permitted food waste defined in point p) of Article 10 of the EC regulation must be preceded by the heat treatments prescribed by the VM regulation before being put away. Liquid substances must be boiled for at least 10 minutes, while solid substances must be heat treated at 100 °C for at least 10 minutes.

In addition to taking public and animal health risks into account, the competent authority may require the heat treatment procedure to be carried out outside of the cases mentioned above.

45/2012. (V. 8.) In accordance with Section 8 (1) of the VM Decree, the operator must submit his request for special feeding in writing to the food chain safety and animal health directorate (hereinafter: directorate) of the regionally competent county government office corresponding to the place of use (hereinafter: directorate), whose contact details are at They can be found at https://www.kormanyhivatal.hu/hu.

You can find more information about animal by-products on the Nébih website:
https://portal.nebih.gov.hu/-/allati-melletermekkel-kappelsatos-altalanos-utmutato

Nébih