Metabolic modifiers as performance-enhancing technologies for livestock production

• Population growth and ever-increasing competition for land, food, water, and energy is forcing livestock industries to improve the efficiency with which they can produce their products. • Growth promoters, metabolic modifiers, and management strategies require constant development and research to ensure that these industries remain profitable. • As incomes increase in the burgeoning economies, so does the demand for high-quality animal proteins such as meat, milk, and eggs; thus, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests that food requirements will increase by 70% by 2050 (Anonymous, 2009) • There are metabolic modifiers such as recombinant porcine somatotropin, dietary β-agonists, hormone growth promotants, and an immunocastration vaccine available for some livestock industries. However, there is mounting resistance from retailers and consumer groups who advocate that food should be produced naturally. • There is overwhelming evidence for the continued use and development of new growth-promoting technologies, but retailers and consumer groups as well as artificial trade barriers may yet prove to be too disruptive. © Dunshea, D'Souza, and Channon.