Utilization of by-products in animal nutrition - From its beginning up to the white paper of food safety

Aim of this contribution is a short description on the history of using by-products in animal nutrition. Since the beginning of keeping animals people were faced with the question of available and suitable feedstuffs. During long periods of the history feed shortage and insufficient feed quality were limiting the food production on the basis of animals. Especially herbivorous species were used to convert fibrous plant material (for example straw) in edible products like meat or milk. Omnivorous species (especially pigs) were housed to produce meat on the basis of by-products of food (like bran a.s.o.). In the future the question will be, how to increase the use of those products for animal feed which cannot be used by humans, (e.g. organic substances with a high fibre content) or which are not desired/intended for direct human consumption, and which therefore are being used decreasingly (cf. the parts of slaughtered animals that are actually consumed by people). At the global level, the reasons to push for recycling of organic by-products and "wastes" in animal nutrition fall into two different and complementary trends: In highly-developed industrialized regions of the world the use of such products as unusual feedstuffs permits more economical and ecological disposal, while in the "Poorer" countries this is a way to augment both quantity and quality of feed supply. Many by-products and waste substances from the production, processing and consumption of food and beverages can potentially be used by animals, As the production and processing of food becomes more and more industrialised, the sources of supply are increas.