Precision Production, Bioactive Discovery, and Health-Promoting Applications in Functional Animal-Derived Foods

Animal-derived foods are fundamental to global nutrition, providing high-quality protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and diverse bioactive compounds. The increasing prevalence of metabolic disorders, micronutrient deficiencies, and aging-related diseases highlights the need to enhance the functional value of foods beyond basic nutrition. A major challenge is to systematically integrate animal production strategies with measurable human health outcomes.This research topic aims to address this gap by consolidating multidisciplinary advances that improve the health-promoting properties of animal-derived products. By integrating nutritional modulation, molecular and genetic strategies, bioactive compound discovery, quality control, and consumer research, this collection seeks to develop functional animal products that contribute to improving overall well-being. Ultimately, this initiative intends to strengthen the translational bridge between livestock production systems and human health promotion.Livestock-derived foods such as meat, milk, and eggs are essential components of human diets worldwide. Their nutritional composition is not fixed but can be modulated through feed formulation, breeding strategies, management systems, and post-harvest processing. Advances in precision nutrition, omics technologies, molecular biology, and food science have revealed that animal products can be enriched with functional lipids, peptides, micronutrients, and other bioactive metabolites. At the same time, consumer demand is shifting toward foods that offer added health benefits while maintaining safety, sustainability, and sensory quality. These developments position animal science at a critical intersection between agricultural production and public health, necessitating integrated research efforts that evaluate both production efficiency and functional health outcomes.This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and perspectives addressing strategies to enhance the functional value of animal-derived foods. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: nutritional modulation strategies (feed additives, precision nutrition, microbiome-targeted approaches); genetic and molecular regulation of nutrient deposition and bioactive compound synthesis; identification and mechanistic evaluation of functional peptides and metabolites derived from animal products; effects of processing, storage, and formulation on stability and bioavailability of functional components; safety assessment, regulatory considerations, consumer perception, and market acceptance; translational studies linking compositional changes in animal products to human health outcomes. Contributions integrating animal science, nutrition, molecular biology, food science, and public health are particularly encouraged. Both experimental and interdisciplinary approaches that advance functional livestock production are welcome. Topic editors: De Xin Dang, Hao Yang Sun, Desheng Li, Liu Xiao, HUAN WANG Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78343/precision-production-bioactive-discovery-and-health-promoting-applications-in-functional-animal-derived-foods