Feed Ingredients · Specify / Buy

How to read a feed ingredient specification

Two offers for the same ingredient name are often not the same material. This guide separates what each document actually proves, which technical values change comparability, and the questions to answer before an offer is accepted.

Document roles — what each one actually proves

These are different commitments. None of them substitutes for another.

Product Specification
Proves: The agreed technical requirements for the material: identity, grade, assay basis, physical form and the parameters against which a lot is accepted or rejected.
Does not prove: It does not report what any individual lot actually measured, and it does not establish regulatory permission for your application.
Ask for: A specification that states the acceptance limits and the test methods, not only typical values.
COA (Certificate of Analysis)
Proves: The values measured on one identified lot, for the parameters listed, using the methods stated.
Does not prove: It does not prove universal suitability, it does not cover parameters it does not list, and it does not confirm conformity unless its parameters and methods match your specification.
Ask for: Lot number, manufacture and retest/expiry dates, test methods, and the same parameters your specification uses.
SDS (Safety Data Sheet)
Proves: Hazard identification, safe handling, storage, exposure control and emergency information for the material.
Does not prove: It proves nothing about quality, assay, grade or feed suitability. An SDS is a hazard-communication document.
Ask for: A current GHS/WHMIS-format SDS matching the exact grade you are buying.
TDS / Product Information
Proves: The manufacturer's technical description of the product: typical properties, physical form, packaging, storage and general application information.
Does not prove: Typical values are not acceptance limits, and a TDS does not establish legal compliance or permitted use.
Ask for: The revision date and whether the values are typical or guaranteed — those are different commitments.
Declarations / Certificates
Proves: Only the specific claim written on the document, for the scope, site and period it names — for example an origin statement, a GMO or allergen declaration, or a management-system certificate.
Does not prove: A certificate held by a manufacturer does not automatically apply to every grade, every site or every lot, and it does not substitute for a specification or a COA.
Ask for: Scope, issuing body, validity period and whether the certificate names the exact product and production site.

Not every material legally requires every document. Which documents apply depends on the material, the application and the jurisdiction — this guide does not decide that for you.

Technical values that decide whether two offers are comparable

Comparability is a technical question before it is a commercial one.

Value	Why it matters	How offers differ
Exact material identity and form	The trade name is not the identity. Salt form, isomer, hydrate state and coating are all part of what you are buying.	An amino acid salt, a hydroxy analogue and a coated product may all be quoted under one shorthand name while being three different materials.
Grade	Grade signals the manufacturing and control regime the material was produced under and which documentation is normally available.	A material offered against a different grade description may be produced to different impurity and control limits.
Assay / active content and its basis	Two offers are only comparable when the declared active is on the same basis — as-supplied, dry, salt or element.	A salt assay and a free-base assay describe different quantities of the same element or molecule.
Activity units (enzymes and similar)	Activity products are sold by declared units, and the unit is defined by an assay method.	Two products declaring the same numeric activity are not equivalent when the unit definitions or assay methods differ.
Carrier / diluent presence	A carrier is part of the as-supplied mass. It changes the active per kilogram and the handling behaviour.	One offer may be a concentrate and the other a carrier-diluted product at a lower active level.
Physical form	Powder, granule, liquid, coated or encapsulated forms behave differently in dosing, mixing and storage.	A liquid and a dry form of the same active require different dose points and different handling equipment.
Particle size and distribution	Particle size affects dispersion in a premix, segregation risk, dust loss and flow behaviour.	Offers that state only a mesh cut-off may still differ substantially in fines content.
Moisture	Moisture changes the effective active on a dry basis and drives caking behaviour in storage.	A higher-moisture lot carries less dry active per kilogram at the same declared as-supplied assay.
Bulk density	Volumetric dosing delivers volume, so bulk density variation shows up directly as dosing drift.	Loose and tapped values differ; offers that quote only one of them are not directly comparable.
Lot / batch identity and traceability	Lot identity is what links the material in your bin to the COA and to any subsequent investigation.	Blended or repacked material may carry a repacker lot rather than a manufacturing lot.
Origin and manufacturer identity	The producing site, not only the trading company, determines the process, the controls and the documentation available.	Two traders may quote the same producer, or two different producers under the same product name.
Storage conditions and shelf life	Declared shelf life is conditional on the stated storage conditions and packaging.	A shorter remaining shelf life on arrival changes the real usable quantity for slow-moving materials.

Buyer procurement checklist

Work top to bottom on any offer. Anything unanswered stays recorded as unknown.

1. What exact ingredient and physical form is being supplied?
Salt form, isomer, coating and liquid-versus-dry are all part of the identity, not commercial detail.
2. What grade is stated, and does the documentation match that grade?
A data sheet for a different grade is not evidence about the material you are buying.
3. What assay or active level is declared, and on what basis?
As-supplied, dry, salt and element bases give different numbers for the same material.
4. Is a carrier or diluent present, and is it declared?
A carrier changes the active per kilogram and the blending behaviour of the material.
5. Which specification defines acceptance, yours or the supplier's?
Without an agreed acceptance specification there is no defined basis for rejecting a lot.
6. What does the COA actually verify, and by which methods?
A COA covers only the listed parameters on that lot, measured by the stated method.
7. Are particle size and moisture relevant to how you use it?
They drive dispersion, segregation, dust loss, dosing accuracy and storage behaviour.
8. Is bulk density recorded where dosing is volumetric?
Volumetric feeders deliver volume; density variation appears directly as dosing drift.
9. Is the producing site and origin identified, not only the seller?
Process, controls and available documentation belong to the producer, not the trader.
10. Are application-specific declarations required for your product?
Requirements depend on the material, the application and the jurisdiction — they are not universal.
11. What storage conditions and shelf life apply, and from which date?
Shelf life is conditional; remaining life on arrival is the number that affects you.
12. Are the two supplier offers genuinely equivalent?
Equivalence requires identical identity, basis, form and method — otherwise you are comparing two different materials.

Four questions that are routinely conflated

Identity, specification, permitted use and finished-feed compliance are separate.

Ingredient identity
What is this material, chemically and physically?
Answered by the specification and the manufacturer's documentation.
Technical specification
Does this lot meet the agreed technical requirements?
Answered by your acceptance specification plus a matching COA.
Permitted use / regulatory status
May this material be used in feed in this jurisdiction, for this species and purpose?
Answered by the current regulation — in Canada the CFIA framework — never by a catalogue listing, a TDS or a COA.
Finished-feed compliance
Does the finished feed meet its labelling and compositional obligations?
A property of your finished product and your own process, not of any single ingredient.

A product being listed in a catalogue says nothing about its regulatory status in your jurisdiction, for your species or for your intended purpose. Verify permitted use against the current regulation before an ingredient enters a feed formula.

Use this when

You are comparing two supplier offers for the same ingredient name.
A lot arrived and you need to know what the COA does and does not verify.
You are writing or reviewing an acceptance specification for a feed material.
A second source is being qualified against an existing approved material.

How this works

1. Establish the exact material identity and form before comparing anything else.
2. Separate the document roles: specification, COA, SDS, TDS, declaration.
3. Check the technical values that change comparability: assay basis, carrier, particle size, moisture, bulk density.
4. Work the procurement checklist and record what is still unknown as unknown.

What this page does not determine

It does not conclude that a material is legally permitted in feed in any jurisdiction.
It does not state which documents are mandatory for your product; that depends on material, application and jurisdiction.
It does not assess nutritional adequacy or finished-feed compliance.
It does not certify a supplier, a lot or a certificate you have been shown.

Relevant Allzone products

These are catalogue identities relevant to investigate. A listing here is not a statement that the material is suitable for your feed, and it is not a permitted-use, safety, nutritional or performance claim.

Ask for a quotation or a specification

Where this comes from, and what it cannot tell you

Canadian Food Inspection Agency — Feeds Regulations and the Canadian Feed Ingredients Table
Supports: Ingredient identity, labelling and permitted use in livestock feed in Canada are governed by federal regulation and a listed ingredient framework.
Limitation: Regulatory status is decided by the current regulation and the specific application. A catalogue listing, a TDS or a COA never establishes permitted use.
Canada (federal) · Always verify against the current CFIA text for your application
ISO/IEC 17025 and general laboratory reporting practice
Supports: A certificate of analysis reports tested values for one identified lot against stated methods.
Limitation: A COA proves what was tested on that lot. It does not prove conformity to your acceptance specification unless the parameters and methods match.
International · Standing practice
GHS / WHMIS 2015 safety data sheet structure (16 sections)
Supports: An SDS communicates hazard identification, handling, storage and emergency information.
Limitation: An SDS is a hazard-communication document. It is not a quality document and proves nothing about assay, grade or suitability.
Canada / international GHS · Current GHS-aligned format
Enzyme activity declaration practice (e.g. phytase FTU/g)
Supports: Enzyme products are declared by activity units on a carrier, and unit definitions and assay methods differ between suppliers.
Limitation: Activity figures are comparable only when the unit definition and assay method are identical. Otherwise the two numbers are not the same measurement.
Product-specific · Confirm per supplier method