By Anna Molin
Denmark's Novozymes A/S (NZYM-B.KO) has announced plans to
develop probiotics for poultry, amid rising demand for alternatives
to antibiotics following McDonald's Corp.'s (MCD) decision to stop
selling chickens raised with the growth boosters.
Novozymes, the world's largest maker of enzymes used in products
ranging from detergents to ethanol, said it would work on the new
probiotics with Adisseo France SAS, a unit of chemical company
China National Bluestar Co.
The companies didn't provide financial details.
The probiotics will be based on "good" bacteria that boost
growth, improve feed utilization and limit the development of "bad"
bacteria in the gut, Novozymes and Adisseo said.
The partnership is a challenge to U.S. chemical giant DuPont,
Japan's Calpis and Denmark's Chr. Hansen A/S (CHR.KO), which
dominate the roughly half-a-billion dollar market for probiotics
used in animal feed.
Probiotics makers say they can be used instead of antibiotics to
speed up animal growth without risks to human health.
Public-health leaders partly blame antibiotics, which are widely
fed to chickens and cattle to boost weight gain or cut food
volumes, for a growing global health crisis of drug-resistant
bacteria. More than 2 million Americans a year develop bacterial
infections resistant to antibiotics, which kill at least 23,000
annually in the U.S. alone, according to a 2013 report by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
McDonald's in March joined a growing list of companies looking
to curtail antibiotics' use in chicken when it announced that it
would stop selling McNuggets and other chicken dishes in the U.S.
made from birds raised with antibiotics deemed medically important
for humans.
In April, Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), the largest U.S. meat packer,
said it would no longer use antibiotics taken by people for its
chickens by September 2017, opting instead for a combination of
vaccines, biosecurity advancements and probiotics, which are
naturally occurring living bacteria used to combat germs.
Last week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world's largest
retailer, asked its meat and egg suppliers to curb their use of
antibiotics to treat sick animals and to never use antibiotics to
promote animal growth.
These curbs reflect attempts to address concerns by consumers
about what is in their food and follow years of regulatory
clampdowns on growth-boosting antibiotics' use both in the U.S. and
Europe.
"This is a strong signal for us," Adisseo Chief Executive
Jean-Marc Dublanc said about the commitment of McDonald's and other
meat companies to phase out the use of human antibiotics in
chicken.
The health claims of probiotic supplements, at least in people,
have been questioned by the European Food Safety Authority and
other agencies. Others say scientific studies have proven their
effect and a number of farmers around the world already mix animal
feed and drinking water with the additive.
Under the partnership, Novozymes will be tasked with lab
screening, development and production, likely to take place at its
Salem, Va., facility, while Adisseo will manage animal testing,
marketing and sales, the companies said.
Thomas Videbaek, head of business development at Novozymes, said
the partners will target the U.S. and European markets first and
aim to start selling their products in about a year.
While the first products will be tailored for poultry, the
partners plan to explore similar moves for other animals including
swine, he said.
Probiotic animal feed additives account for about 2% of the
estimated $26 billion global probiotic products market, and are
growing at about 10% annually, according to estimates from
Novozymes and research firm MarketsandMarkets.
Write to Anna Molin at anna.molin@wsj.com
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