But it claims that firms can remain competitive by harnessing the potential of the latest developments in livestock nutrition.
"The quest for healthier lifestyles is bringing about major changes in terms of what consumers look for when buying meat," said global marketing director Andrea Barletta.
"The global trend towards leaner meat is reflected in what retailers are demanding from meat processors and, in turn, what they require from poultry and pig producers.
"Advances in genetics have already played a key role in helping producers to reduce costs by substantially enhancing the animal's ability to efficiently utilise feed and generate a higher percentage of lean meat. However, this is only part of the story, as nutrition also plays a key role."
Barletta said that a new generation of scientifically-proven specialist feed ingredients, such as betaine and enzymes, are becoming vital in optimising nutrition. Betaine is increasingly used to improve production efficiency, carcass quality and ease of processing, whilst reducing costs.
Betafin, Danisco Animal Nutrition's own form of natural betaine, is extracted from sugar beet then highly purified using patented chromatographic separation techniques.
Betaine's energy boosting properties help to fuel lean growth. This has been demonstrated in a series of trials with Betafin. Danisco claims that on average, Betafin improved lean meat percentage in pigs by 1.5 per cent, increased turkey breast yield by around 3 per cent and broiler breast yield by 4 per cent.
In addition, betaine's beneficial effects on gut structure aid nutrient digestion and absorption, contributing to improved, more consistent performance in pigs and poultry whilst offering potential benefits to processors by improving gut strength.
Worldwide trials conducted by Danisco Animal Nutrition have also demonstrated that the addition of the company's Porzyme enzyme products to pig diets improves the uniformity of growth and the lean meat percentage by releasing more nutrients from the feed.
On average, Porzyme reduced variability in final liveweight in piglets by 31 per cent and in grower/finisher pigs by 27 per cent. A series of nine trials showed that Porzyme increased lean meat percentage by an average of 1.5 per cent, helping pigs to get closer to their full genetic potential and at the same time improving producer profitability.
Danisco Animal Nutrition, a division of leading global food ingredient specialist Danisco A/S (Denmark), is a pioneer in the development and use of enzymes and betaine in animal nutrition.