Controlling Gut Health without the Use of Antibiotics

During the past 50 years, the livestock and poultry industries have developed in several areas including nutrition, genetics, engineering, management, and communications to maximizing the efficiency of growth performance and meat yield. Now these industries must focus more attention on how animal agriculture affects the environment and food safety. As in many other industries, the global paradigm is shifting from an emphasis on productive efficiency to one of public security. Nothing demonstrates this paradigm shift more clearly than the issues concerning the use of antibiotic growth promoters. For the past 4 decades, antibiotics have been used in animal agriculture to improve the growth performance and protect animals from the adverse effects of pathogenic and non-pathogenic enteric microorganisms. Now, antibiotics have come under increasing scrutiny because of the potential development of antibiotic-resistant human pathogenic bacteria after long use (Phillips, 1999; Ratcliff, 2000). In response to this “apparent threat”, the European Union banned the use of sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics to prevent disease or promote growth, starting with a ban on avoparcin in 1997 and a ban on virginiamycin, bacitracin, spiromycin, and tylosin in 1999. Antimicrobials scheduled to be banned by 2006 include avilamycin, bambermycin, salinomycin and monensin. In June of 2003, McDonald’s Corp. announced that it would prohibit their direct suppliers from using antibiotics that are important in human medicine as growth promoters in food animals after 2004, and they created a purchasing preference for companies that work to minimize antibiotic use. Although banning antibiotic growth promoters may not be scientifically justified, the tide of public opinion is forcing animal agriculture to develop alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, or at least substantially reduce the amount of antibiotics used to maintain production efficiency and produce safe meat and egg products. Some of these alternatives may include significant changes in husbandry practices or the strategic use of enteric microflora conditioners, including acidifiers, probiotics, enzymes, herbal products, microflora enhancers, and immunomodulators. The objective of this paper is to briefly review the use of antibiotic growth promoters as enteric conditions and discuss the potential of non-pharmaceutical alternatives.