Because SCFA and MCFA are usually rapidly
metabolised by the microbiota of the gut and absorbed
by epithelial cells along the gastro-intestinal tract (Van
Immerseel et al., 2006; Louis et al., 2007), the
supplemented fatty acids should be protected from the
intestinal environment until they reach the major sites
of colonization by Salmonella, namely the ileum,
caecum and colon. In this report, a trend for decreased
intestinal Salmonella load and bacterial shedding in
pigs was shown using supplemented coated butyric
acid, but not using supplemented uncoated butyric
acid, as also previously described in poultry (Van
Immerseel et al., 2006). Even though caprylic acid
showed a stronger effect on invasion in vitro, this
positive effect was not reproduced in vivo. This may
partially be explained by the fact that the coated
butyric acid supplement was an extensively characterized
and optimized commercial product, while
the caprylic acid supplement was not