The Gujarat Legislative Meeting on Thursday unanimously handed a invoice making licences obligatory for the manufacture, storage and sale of livestock feed, poultry feed and mineral mixtures within the state, with penalties prescribed for substandard and adulterated feed.
The Gujarat Livestock Feed, Poultry Feed and Mineral Combination (Regulation of Manufacturing, Storage, Distribution, Sale and High quality Management) Invoice, 2026, offers for a nice of as much as ₹5 lakh and suspension of a licence for as much as one yr for manufacturing substandard feed. Deceptive branding can entice a nice of as much as ₹5 lakh and suspension of a licence for as much as three years.
Manufacturing or promoting adulterated feed, the place no animal demise happens, can result in cancellation of the licence, imprisonment for as much as one yr and a nice of as much as ₹5 lakh. If an animal dies due to adulterated feed, the licence could be cancelled and the offender can face imprisonment of seven to 10 years and a nice of as much as ₹10 lakh.
Gujarat agriculture and animal husbandry minister Jitu Vaghani, who launched the Invoice, stated producers must adjust to requirements prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Requirements (BIS) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Analysis (ICAR). The laws additionally offers for periodic testing and evaluation of feed samples and prescribes necessities for packaging and labelling to forestall deceptive claims and branding.
Vaghani stated the laws was based mostly on the World Well being Group’s “One Well being” method and was meant to guard livestock farmers and producers that complied with high quality requirements. He stated the federal government would take motion towards companies that compromised on feed high quality.
The minister stated the licensing course of could be on-line and faceless to forestall pointless harassment of companies. Farmers getting ready feed for their very own livestock and feed produced for analysis functions have been saved exterior the scope of the regulation.
The federal government stated the laws was aimed toward defending the well being of Gujarat’s livestock inhabitants, which incorporates greater than 106 lakh buffaloes and 96 lakh cows, in addition to sheep, goats and poultry, and at bettering milk productiveness.