Trade with feed with countries outside and in the EU

The regulations for trading with feed partly depend on whether you trade with countries in or outside the EU. You are responsible for the feed you import to Sweden being safe and labelled in a correct way. In some cases, the feed is required to be accompanied by a special commercial document or veterinary certificate. As a private person, you need to be aware that there are rules that also apply to you.

Importing feed to Sweden regardless of the country of origin

Register as a feed business operator

If you purchase and import feed products, for sale and distribution in Sweden, you must register at the Swedish Board of Agriculture as a feed business operator.

Registration is intended to increase the traceability of feed, and thereby also increase feed and food safety. If you make changes in your business or cease to import feed to Sweden, you should notify this on the same form as you register the feed establishment.

Derogation from the requirement to register as a feed business operator

If you are a farmer, you are not required to register as a feed business operator if you import feed products which you are only going to give to your own animals.

What type of feed may I take home with me from abroad as a private person?

As a private person, you may bring in all types of feed, regardless of weight, from all EU Member States as well as from Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino and Switzerland. From the Faroe Islands and Greenland you may bing in feed up to a total weight of 10 kilograms.

In the case of feed with animal content, you may only bring in feed for pets from other countries, if it is required for health reasons and provided that it is not more than 2 kilos, under the conditions that the products

  • are intended for the pet accompanying the passenger
  • are shelf stable
  • are packaged proprietary brand products for direct sale to the final consumer
  • the packaging is unbroken unless in current use.

Changing or ceasing the feed business

If you make any changes or cease your feed business, you must notify this on the same form that you used to register the feed establishment.

You can see the data registered about you or your company through the e-service Sök foderföretagare [Search feed business operator].

You are responsible for the feed being safe

The feed business operator is responsible for the products complying with the requirements and rules for feed and bears the ultimate responsibility for it being safe. You must have written routines that are based on the principles that find out about and manage the risks in the business operation.

Testing for salmonella and aflatoxin

In cases where there are no detailed sampling requirements for the feed product, which are bringing into Sweden, you must make your own risk assessment to determine which analyses that are relevant for your type of feed. Here below you find more information about sampling when importing feed to Sweden.

Rules for testing of salmonella when importing feed to Sweden.

Feed material

You must carry out sampling for aflatoxin and salmonella for certain materials, for example soy meal, soybeans, rapeseed meal, corn gluten meal and compound feeds for food producing animals.

Compound feeds for beef cattle, reindeer, pigs and poultry

If you import compound feeds for beef cattle, reindeer, pigs or poultry from another EU Member State, you must be able to show documentation for every consignment to confirm that you have sampled for salmonella. You must take at least 80 samples that will be combined in tens into a total of 8 analysis samples for consignments up to 100 tonnes.

Compound feeds for dairy cattle

If you import compound feeds from another country, you must be able to show documentation for each consignment that you have sampled for aflatoxin.

You can check which materials you need to take samples of in Annex 4, regulation 2018:33.

Söker efter grundforeskrifter:
2018:33

There are special rules for control of dioxin in certain vegetable feed materials (fats and oils).

Feed must be correctly labelled

Feed products must be labelled in accordance with the EU labelling regulations and in the official language(s) of the country where they are to be sold. Feed to be sold in Sweden must accordingly always be labelled in Swedish.

The transporter must be registered

Anyone transporting feed in any form must comply with the feed regulations. For instance this means that transporters of feed in connection with trading with other countries, must notify their transport activity and be registered.

If you transport feed that wholly or partly consists of animal by-products, for example, by-products from slaughter or fresh feed for dogs, you must also be registered for transporting animal by-products.

Specific rules for importing feed from other countries

Feed from EU Member States

There are special rules that you must comply with when you import feed from EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland.

All feed establishments must be registered and also approved for a particular kind of feed

All feed establishments in the EU must be registered. Check whether the EU establishment that you are intending to receive feed from is on the EU list of registered or approved establishments.

Feed containing animal components

In the case of feed that wholly or partly consists of animal components, for example, by-products from slaughter, fish meal, meat meal or untreated pet feed (“fresh feed”), there are additional rules when you bring them in from another EU Member State. Further information is available about the applicable rules on the page Trading with products from animals in countries outside and in the EU.

Commercial document for feed with animal biproducts or products manufactured in the EU

If you bring in feed which consists wholly of animal by-products or products such as by-products from slaughter, meat or fishmeal, from EU Member States, a standardised commercial document shall be sent with the transport to the recipient. Feed containing these products may need commercial documents as well. The recipient of the feed is responsible for the document accompanying the consignment of feed. You can find more information about the commercial document on the page Issuing commercial documents and keeping registers.

Feed from countries outside the EU

Feed and additives must comply with EU requirements

If you import feed from countries outside the EU, it must comply with the EU feed safety requirements as regards

contagious and undesirable substances such as salmonella, dioxin, mould and environmental toxins

  • GMO (genetically modified organisms).

If you import additives, compounds or feed containing additives, you must ensure that the additives have been approved in compliance with EU requirements.

You are responsible for the feed complying with the EU requirements.

As importer of feed from countries outside the EU, you bear the ultimate responsibility for it being safe and having been produced in compliance with EU requirements.

To ensure that the business that you purchase the feed from has produced it in compliance with EU requirements, you should ensure that:

  • that they are producing feed in compliance with the EU feed hygiene rules
  • that the additives included in the feed have been approved in the EU
  • that the labelling is in compliance with EU labelling rules.

If the labelling is in any other language, you must translate it into Swedish before placing the feed in the Swedish market.

Vegetable materials

Further checks are required if you import certain vegetable materials, for example, peanuts, from countries outside the EU. The Swedish Board of Agriculture’s border veterinarian will take samples of the materials for aflatoxin before they are permitted to enter Sweden.

The materials that are to be sampled in connection with import can be found in the EU regulation on import control of vegetable materials. There is a list of the material that must be sampled prior to being imported in the Regulation’s annexes. It is important that you, as feed importer, keep yourself updated as to which materials and countries are subject to sampling at the time of import. Please note as well that it is always you as importer of materials that is responsible for them being sampled and that they are safe before being imported to Sweden.

Specially designated border control posts

Please note that you can only bring in these materials to Sweden at specially designated border control posts. These are ports in Gothenburg and Helsingborg as well as airports at Arlanda and Landvetter. You should notify in advance the border control post that receives the consignment of materials that is to be sampled.

As importer of the materials in question, you must pay for the sampling. The cost may vary according to the size of the consignment.

Feed that contains animal components

Special regulations apply when you import, for example, pet feed that contains animal by-products from countries outside the EU, Norway or Switzerland. Further information about the applicable regulations is available on the page Trading with products from animals with countries outside and in the EU.

Importing roughage to Sweden from countries outside the EU

You can import roughage from Norway but it is prohibited from most other countries outside of the EU. Before you can import hay or straw to Sweden, you should check that the countries that you wish to import from are approved. Hay and straw from these countries shall be inspected in a veterinary border check. It shall also be stated in a declaration that it has been stored for at least two months before the date of import.

Exporting feed to other countries

Feed to other EU Member States

If you export feed products to an EU Member State, Norway, Switzerland, Andorra or the Faroe Islands, substantially the same regulations apply as when you sell, send or transport feed products in Sweden. For feed products that require commercial documents, you are, however, required to use the standardised commercial document, which must be in the language of the recipient country. Read more on the pages on transport documents and transport of products from animals.

Use the Traces system

Instead of using the standardised commercial document, you can if you use the Trades data system, download the commercial document from the system. All data shall be included in the print-out. The document shall be signed by you and be sent with the feed products in the original. You and the transporter shall each have a copy. In the case of certain products, it is required that you as sender enter each consignment in Traces.

Feed to countries outside the EU

In order to be able to export feed to a country outside the EU, you must as exporter find out which requirements are applicable in the country you are intending to export to, the “recipient country”. If you are exporting feed to Norway, Switzerland, Andorra and the Faeroes, the same regulations apply as to another EU Member State.

For export of feed with animal content to countries outside the EU, there must often be a health certified issued by an official veterinarian. In the case of vegetable feed, it may be sufficient with “communications”, free sales certificates or certificates that certain diseases are not present in Sweden.

Find out the regulations in the recipient country

Questions that you may need to have answered before export:

  • Is it possible to export my product to the recipient country?
  • Does the product comply with the legislative requirements in the recipient country, for example, are all ingredients and additives in the feed product approved?
  • Do you as exporter have to be registered in the recipient country?
  • Do you need to apply for anything special, for example, an import permit?
  • Which veterinary certificate or other document is required?

Contact an official veterinarian if the feed contains any material from animals

If you are going to export feed that contains animal components, you must contact an official veterinarian in good time to check whether there is a template for health certificates that applies to the specific product in the country you are going to export to. Read more on the page Trading with products from animals with countries outside the EU.

Make an export application if required

If negotiation with the recipient country is required to be able to export a particular product, you must make an export application in our e-service. When the export application has been received, the Swedish Board of Agriculture will take care of negotiations with the country. Please note that it may take a long time before negotiations have been completed.

Find out what rules apply for the transport

It is also important that you find out what regulations and requirements apply to the transport.

Submit a customs declaration

You should always submit an electronic customs declaration to the Swedish Customs before you export feed to countries outside the EU.

Roughage can spread weeds and other undesirable plants and potentially African Swine Fever

Bringing in roughage and straw to Sweden can entail a risk of spreading various weeds, for example, wild oats, black-grass or toxic plants.

However, there are no restrictions on bringing roughage into Sweden from another EU country due to this risk.

But it is only permitted to bring in hay and straw from Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, Great Britain, Guernsey, Greenland, Isle of Man, Iceland, Jersey, New Zealand, Serbia and the USA. It is not permitted to bring in hay from any other countries outside the EU.

You will find more information about weeds in the newsletter: Ogräsbrev 2023 No. 6.

Purchase of roughage

There are cases of the serious swine disease African swine fever among wild boar in several EU Member States. African swine fever can infect in a number of ways including through roughage.

The risk of infection from African swine fever through well-dried hay, straw, silage and plastic wrapped straw feed is less if the hygienic quality of the roughage is good. But there is a risk that dead animals or parts of dead animals, that are infected, will be inclosed in the bale. We therefore recommend that you avoid importing roughage or straw to Sweden from area where there is African swine fever.

Can be flammable

In certain cases, roughage may be classified as being flammable and thus regarded as hazardous goods, for example when transported by ferry. Contact the Swedish Transport Agency for information.

Read more about importing roughage in the section specific rules below.

Contact us if you have any questions

Please mail us if you have any questions.

For questions about exporting feed to other countries:

For questions about importing feed from other countries:

Revision date: 2024-02-08

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