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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