Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are antibiotics added to the feed of food animals to enhance their growth rate and production performance. The mechanism by which AGPs work is not clear. AGPs reduce normal intestinal flora (which compete with the host for nutrients) and harmful gut bacteria (which may reduce performance by causing subclinical disease). The effect on growth may be due to a combination of both fewer normal intestinal flora and fewer harmful bacteria There has been a developing controversy surrounding the use of antibiotics as growth promoters for food animals. These drugs are used at low doses in animal feeds and are considered to improve the quality of the product, with a lower percentage of fat and a higher protein content in the meat. Other benefits of the use of antibiotic growth-promoters include control of zoonotic pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and enterococci. Download FREE Sample of this Report @ h...