Epidemics such as bird flu, other diseases such as foot-and mouth-disease, and environmental concerns have led to increase in concern over animal health around the globe, because of which, meat producers have increased their focus on feed quality and certification, according to a new report from Research and Markets, "Global Animal Feed Additives (Swine, Poultry, Cattle, Aquaculture, Others) - Forecasts to 2018".

Animal feed additives are pharmaceutical or nutritional substances, which are not of natural origin and are added to prepared and stored feeds.

Feed additives are gaining importance due to various functions such as growth promotion, controlling infectious diseases and enhancement of feed digestibility in animals.

North America and Asia-Pacific are the top two consumers of feed additives in the world, together accounting for more than 60 per cent of the consumption.

Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest growing region in terms of revenue. Growth is particularly high in emerging countries such as China, India, and Brazil, because of increasing income levels and rising per capita meat consumption.

The poultry market is estimated to account for the market share for feed additives followed by swine.

The driving factors of the global animal feed additives market are rise in global meat consumption, increasing awareness towards meat quality and safety, increasing mass production of meat, and recent disease outbreaks in livestock.

The restraints of the market are, increasing raw material cost and regulatory structure.

However, the report says that increasing cost of natural feed products is creating an opportunity for feed additives as a cheap alternative.

Leading manufacturers are focusing on expansion of businesses across regions and setting up new plants for increasing their production capacity.