At Castle Horse Feeds, we manufacture all our feeds according to strict quality controls and rigorous feed safety codes. Our horse feeds are manufactured in our UFAS approved mill with our team of highly qualified and dedicated specialists constantly monitoring production and packaging of the entire range.
UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme) is a feed assurance scheme run by the Agricultural Industries Confederation. Designed to help achieve ‘safe feed’ for both the feed and food supply chains, it was set up to ensure complete traceability of feedstuffs, from harvesting of ingredients and manufacture through storage, packaging, loading, transport and delivery.
Manufacturing under the umbrella of UFAS approval provides you with assurance that Castle Horse Feeds are produced to most stringent quality and safety standards. All appropriate standards have been adhered to and our expert team has the systems in place to ensure full compliance, with every batch of our feed is manufactured to the highest possible standards.
Castle Horse Feeds are also a member of the BETA NOPS Scheme. Established in 2009, this scheme aims to reduce the risk of naturally occurring prohibited substances (NOPS) in equine feeds.
A prohibited substance can be defined as ‘any substance that can exert an effect on a horse’. NOPS are those that naturally occur in a feed, or is present due to cross contamination of ingredients during processing before arriving at a mill.
The BETA NOPS is a stand-alone code run solely by the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA). The main NOPS listed as substances and herbs not permitted in equine feeds are:
- Caffeine – (cacao)
- Theobromine – (cacao)
- Theophylline – (tea)
- Morphine – (opium poppy, Papaver somniferum)
- Hyoscine – (nightshade, Datura)
- Hordenine – (germinating barley)
- Atropine – (nightshade – Atropa belladonna)
As a member of the NOPS Scheme, you can be assured that Castle Horse Feeds has conformed to current best practice to minimise the risk of NOPS being present in our feeds, raw materials and ingredients used. This is achieved through regular audit and stringent evaluation of the risk of NOPS contamination at every stage of the production process, from field to feed bag.
We have a horse rider’s /owner’s guide to avoiding NOPS in feed over on our blog, which provides lots of tips on how to ensure you’re not caught out. But if you have any questions at all about any of our feeds, the best feed for your horse or on the BETA NOPS Scheme, please do get in touch. We’re here to help.
Castle Horse feeds are manufactured under the BETA NOPS Scheme. We take every reasonable precaution to ensure that this feed is free from prohibited substances but can give no guarantee. For more information please refer to www.beta-uk.org/pages/feed-nops.php
