Sulaiman F. Aljasir

The world poultry sector is facing some dire problems in balancing the production efficiency against food safety, especially as regulatory pressures are mounting and usage of antibiotic growth promoters is being restricted. This review provides a synthesis of the current findings on the application of beneficial microbes and natural antimicrobials as viable options to control pathogens throughout the farm-to-fork continuum. Probiotics, particularly Lactobacillus and Bacillus species, along with combinations like synbiotics and bacteriophages, have shown significant efficacy by competitive exclusion, host immunity regulation and antimicrobial compound synthesis leading to 1.5-4.5 log reductions of major pathogens including but not limited to Salmonella, Campylobacter and pathogenic Escherichia coli. The combined probiotic-prebiotic, essential oil, organic acid and bacteriophage formulations offer multifactorial intervention models that address each step of production, such as hatchery procedures to post-harvest interventions. Despite the current challenges of standardization, regulatory regulation, and cost-efficiency, the unified use of these natural options is a viable way to continue the production efficiency and at the same time reduce the risk of global antimicrobial resistance and guarantee the microbiological safety of poultry products to consumers on a global scale.

To Cite This Article: Aljasir SF, 2025. Applications of beneficial microbes and natural antimicrobials in poultry with integrated strategies for food safety: a review. Pak Vet J, 45(4): 1463-1476. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2025.329