Summary
Provenza and Gregorini present an invited opinion arguing that industrial food systems systematically restrict dietary choice capacity in herbivores—a trait evolved to ensure nutritional adequacy and welfare. The authors contend that this constraint cascades through animal health, product nutritional composition, and ultimately human nutrition, positioning dietary autonomy as a fundamental but often-overlooked design principle in food system governance. As an opinion piece, the work frames choice-based feeding as a critical functional criterion currently obscured by commodity-focused production models.
UK applicability
The arguments on dietary autonomy and cascading health effects are relevant to UK livestock farming policy and welfare standards, particularly as the UK develops post-Brexit agricultural policy and considers pasture-based and regenerative farming models. The critique of industrial feed systems and choice restriction could inform UK animal welfare legislation and food system redesign discussions.
Key measures
Qualitative assessment of dietary autonomy constraints; conceptual analysis of cascading effects on herbivore welfare, nutritional adequacy, and food system outputs
Outcomes reported
The paper examines how industrial food systems constrain dietary choice in herbivores and argues this restriction cascades through animal health, product composition, and human nutrition outcomes.
Topic tags
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