Urinary tract diseases are a frequent health issue in cats and a common reason for veterinary visits. A major concern is urinary stone formation, which can cause discomfort and clinical signs in cats. Diet is a practical way to support urinary tract health and lower the risk of urinary stone formation, especially struvite stones.

Rising prices of major feed ingredients such as corn and soybean meals have increased the need for affordable and sustainable feeding strategies in poultry production. Dietary fat is a concentrated energy source and can improve feed quality, yet young chickens often cannot digest them efficiently due to their immature digestive systems.

Milk fat is a key indicator for assessing the quality of dairy products. Recently, a growing number of studies have focused on the molecular mechanisms by which non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) regulate milk fat synthesis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides (nt), which exert diverse biological functions.

Modern pork production has focused on growth, leanness, fat deposition, and feed efficiency, but EU consumer demand is shifting toward higher quality, more tender, and flavorful cuts, and hence greater emphasis on carcass composition and meat quality. Improving meat quality traits genetically is challenging, because traits like pH, tenderness, intramuscular fat, and meat color are hindered by the inability to record meat quality trait phenotypes on selection candidates.

Previous studies have reported that cattle grazing toxic fescue during gestation have decreased uterine artery diameter and give birth to lighter calves with decreased growth performance. Cattle supplemented with melatonin during gestation have been found to have increased uterine artery blood flow and offspring growth performance.

Maternal nutrition during gestation, especially during key periods of fetal growth and development, is vital for producing a calf capable of meeting its genetic potential. Reduced growth efficiency in offspring is detrimental to producer profitability because maternal nutrient repartitioning prioritizes development of the central nervous system over skeletal, muscular, and immune systems.

Heat stress directly impairs the sow’s ability to produce enough milk to feed her piglets. While several heat stress mitigation strategies have been developed and utilized to improve milk production in sows, none have leveraged genomic selection as a complementary method.

A chronic low-grade inflammatory state of the adipose tissue, concomitant with increasing adiposity, may contribute to decreased efficiency of feed utilization in late-stage finishing cattle. Supplementation with rumen-protected fish oil, containing the omega-3 fatty acids (FA), eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, could attenuate efficiency of feed utilization declines and adipose tissue inflammation by modulating the inflammatory balance to a pro-resolutive state.

Oregano essential oil and vitamin C are known for their effective antioxidant potential. However, their mutual effects have not been fully elucidated under significant challenges, e.g. heat stress, until now. We aimed to describe their combined potential through a pilot laboratory test followed by an experiment on rabbits exposed to naturally occurring heat stress.

High levels of zinc oxide (ZnO) can be added to the diets of nursery pigs to reduce diarrhea after weaning and support healthy growth. However, concerns about its environmental impact have led to alternative diet formulation approaches.

Cattle can experience heat stress during the summer months, which can lead to a decline in overall performance and an increase in responses indicative of stress. This study supplemented β-ligands (Ractopamine Hydrochloride; RAC and Lubabegron; LUB) during the summer months to evaluate the effect of β-ligand supplementation on cattle performance, carcass characteristics, rumination, mobility scores, and behavior.

Ectoine is a naturally occurring osmolyte produced by extremophilic bacteria, known for protecting various cell types under extreme environmental stress without disrupting essential cellular functions. However, its protective effects on sperm have not been previously investigated.

Beef color is one of the most important components to consumers when making purchasing decisions and is influenced by several factors, such as animal genetics, health, and how the meat is aged or stored. This study explored how cattle breed type (native or dairy-cross) and the presence of liver abscesses, an indicator of poor liver health, affect beef color and color stability during retail display.

Processed meat products may be defined as products manufactured from meat (beef, pork, poultry, fish, etc.) and/or offal products, liver, heart, etc.) that are formulated with ingredients that serve a specific product function—taste, texture, color, shelf-life, and/or safety and may undergo a series of mechanical processes, such as grinding, chopping, blending, marination, injection, tumbling, curing, smoking, and cooking. Although this definition (or variations thereof) is understood and accepted by meat industry or meat science professionals, it is not as clearly understood by the public or the media who report on it.

Processed meats are a significant source of proteins, indispensable amino acids (IAA), A and B vitamins, zinc, phosphorus, iron, and several micronutrients (Table 1). Some public health entities recommend eliminating red meat and processed meats from the diet.

Food preservation practices date to the beginnings of ancient societies, and the prosperity of an ancient society was often associated with the development of food preservation knowledge and skills. Key among those skills was the ability to harvest salt from natural sources and using salt to extend the shelf life of food (Bloch, 1976).

Globally, salt curing has been used to preserve meat for thousands of years, but in the United States, dry-cured country ham has evolved into something distinctly American. A product of geography, necessity, and ingenuity, country ham reflects ­European curing practices adapted by settlers who came to the New World (Evans-Hylton, 2004).

Consumers report wanting less sodium yet reject products that fall short on taste. Public health agencies have responded by tightening intake guidance to curb diet-related disease. For food product developers, salt’s multifunctionality complicates meaningful reduction.

Variability and inconsistency of adopted terminology to describe the level and degree of food processing persists. Published definitions of processing applied throughout the food industry are generally based on the degree of physical, nutritional or biochemical alteration from the original whole food, often including the inclusion of additional ingredients.