Mangimi addizionati con microrganismi probiotici: nuove applicazione del Progetto UE Pathogen Combat.

Despite significant investment in food safety, the incidence of food-borne disease is still on the rise in the European Union. Probiotic cultures and prebiotics, as additives in animal feed, may be an effective strategy to prevent or reduce the incidence of pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract of food-producing animals, improving food safety and consumer health. Thanks to the EU project Pathogen Combat, new probiotics cultures has been selected for application in animal nutrition. The selected strains were added to the feed of goats and broilers as lyophilized powder or microencapsulated to better resist to harsh environmental conditions. Following 15 days of treatment, the intestinal microbiota was analysed to evaluate the influence of probiotics on the composition of the microbiota and on pathogen presence.