
Prebiotics, which are a type of functional foods, are used in animal feed for improving the digestive system, immune system, and overall performance of animals. Prebiotics are essentially nutrients that are used for the microbe population of the rumen of the host animal to be in balanced numbers for a few essential functions, especially preventing pathogenic bacterial colonization of the gut. In the recent past, the prohibition of antibiotics as growth promoters (AGPs) has necessitated the use of alternate methods to reduce bacterial pathogens, which are directly related to food contamination of animal origin foods.