November 28, 2006
 

Increasing interest in animal health to drive the feed additive sector

 

 

There has been an increasing interest in animal health due to recent outbreaks of bird flu and foot-and-mouth diseases.

 

The same has boosted demand for high-quality animal feed additives.

 

The EU ban on antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) has stimulated interest in most sectors of the animal health feed additive market. The companies have now been trying to discover alternative feed ingredients.

 

Pork producers, in particular have been keen on substituting growth promoters mainly because of heightened health awareness in consumers and problems associated with red meat.

 

Moreover, a continuous rise in demand for pig and poultry meat has encouraged the growth of the animal feed and feed additives industry, as these animal categories account for a bulk of its end-user segments.

 

Feed additives promote better health and improve productivity, which reduces production costs and environmental pollution.

 

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company expects a strong growth in animal feeds and feed additives in the coming years, which would overcome the challenge of finding new solutions to the use of antibiotics by exploring the abilities of other feed ingredients.

 

To do so, manufacturers of alternative feed ingredients would have to recapture the benefits of AGPs and offer additional product advantages.

 

Certain tests on the replacing additive would gauge the new ingredients' ability to effectively comply with the required standards,

according to Frost & Sullivan research analyst R Srimathy.

 

Food safety in animal feed becomes a complex issue, as it involves various factors such as animal welfare, animal health, environmental regulations and legal considerations, he assed.

 

Demand for phytase has also gone up as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) concerns about chemical emissions from the agricultural industry. The regulations have been driving farmers to reduce phosphate content in animal wastes, thus boosting the demand for animal feed enzymes such as phytase.