Templates and records · GMP+
Notification to the GMP+ Early Warning System
If a feed may be unsafe, the certified company does not only act: it alerts the scheme and its customers so the problem does not spread through the chain.
In one sentence
The Early Warning System notification is the record by which a GMP+ certified company informs GMP+ International, and the customers affected, of any situation in which a feed may pose a safety risk — contamination above the limits, for example — with the batches involved and the measures taken, as set out in the EWS minimum requirements in GMP+ BA5.
- Type of information
- Mandatory record Record required by GMP+ B1 and the Early Warning System minimum requirements in GMP+ BA5
- Who fills it in
- Quality manager With senior management; communication with the authority is made by whoever the company designates
- When
- As soon as the risk is detected Within the deadline set in GMP+ BA5; check it in the current version
- How long it is kept
- As set by the scheme and the law Regulation (EC) 183/2005 requires records that allow traceability, and the GMP+ documents set minimum retention periods: check them in the current version of the B document that applies to you.
What the standard requires
What GMP+ demands and what it leaves to your judgement
GMP+ requires certified companies to inform GMP+ International and customers when they find that a feed they have supplied or received may not be safe, in the cases and within the deadlines set by its EWS minimum requirements document.
The notification includes the product, the batches, the contaminant and its level, the distribution and the measures taken. GMP+ uses that information to alert other participants in the chain.
The legal obligation is separate: Article 20 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 requires feed business operators to withdraw feed that does not meet safety requirements and to inform the competent authority.
Structure
Fields the template should include
- Date and time of detection
- Product, batches and quantities
- Contaminant or problem and level detected
- Limit exceeded
- Distribution: customers and suppliers involved
- Notification to GMP+ International: date and reference
- Communication to customers and to the authority
- Measures: blocking, withdrawal, investigation
Example
Example: dioxins in a mineral consignment (fictitious scenario)
Company, people and figures are fictitious: the example only shows what a properly completed record looks like.
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Detection | 2 June 2026 · 11:00 · laboratory result from the monitoring plan |
| Product | Calcium carbonate · batch CC-0526 · 22 t received |
| Level | Dioxins above the legal maximum level |
| Use | 6 t incorporated into 3 batches of layer feed |
| Notification | GMP+ International and the supplier notified the same day · EWS reference recorded |
| Customers | 4 farms notified · the 3 feed batches withdrawn |
| Authority | Communication to the competent feed authority |
At the audit
Mistakes auditors commonly flag
- The problem is handled internally and not notified to GMP+.
- The notification arrives late because nobody knows who should make it.
- The feed batches in which the feed material was used are missing.
- The competent authority is not informed.
- No record of the communications and their times.
In Kimobox
How this record is kept in Kimobox
- 1An out-of-limit result opens a nonconformity with the batch and its backward and forward traceability.
- 2The mock recall returns the affected feed batches and customers in minutes.
- 3Communications to GMP+, customers and the authority are recorded with their times in the same case file.
- 4Internal alerts to the person responsible are sent as push notifications with read receipts.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before getting started
What is the GMP+ EWS?
The scheme's early warning system: a procedure by which certified companies report feed safety problems to GMP+ International, so the scheme can warn the rest of the chain.
When must a notification be made?
In the cases set out in GMP+ BA5, typically when a feed exceeds a safety limit and could affect others in the chain. That document also sets the deadline.
Does it replace notifying the authority?
No. Notifying the competent authority is a legal obligation under Regulation (EC) 178/2002 and is made in addition to the notification to the scheme.
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Sources
Where each figure comes from
References to the official text in force. If a standard is revised, this page is updated and the review date says so.
- GMP+ Feed Certification scheme, Feed Safety Assurance module (GMP+ B1, B3, B4 and BA documents) GMP+ International · Documents in force
- Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law (Articles 18 and 20) EUR-Lex · 28 January 2002