AGP ban boosts probiotics market

Europ - The EU ban and possible ban on antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) in the US is expected to boost the growth potential of the European animal feed probiotics market in the next five years, according to a new report.

Developed in recent years, probiotics represent one of the most promising alternatives to antimicrobials to protect animal health and increase the efficiency of nutritient utilization. Probiotics have been demonstrated to have an equivalent efficiency to synthetic AGPs, which were previously used as prophylactics to suppress growth and activity in all gut microflora species, before they were banned completely in Europe in January 2006.

In particular, the AGP ban has left the EU monogastric animal feed industry at a financial disadvantage as it competes with countries outside the EU that can still use in-feed antimicrobials enteritis. Accordingly, the animal feed probiotics market is poised for growth.

In monogastric animal especially, the use of probiotics can help to reduce the significant increase in therapeutic antimicrobials administered. Moreover, the imminent ban on AGPs in the US is expected to augment the growth potential of the European animal feed probiotics market in the next five years. The strategic positioning of feed additive products to target specific production problems or periods of stress will become increasingly affected by changes in feed composition or quality.

Although the acceptability of probiotics has risen over the past several few years, concerns still exist regarding their efficacy and reliability. Hence, increasing end-user confidence in these products is essential.