Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 4 — Narrative / commentaryPeer-reviewed

Metabolomics in ruminant food: Bridging nutritional quality and safety evaluation

Boyan Zhang; Jiakun Wang; Bing Wang

Animal Nutriomics · 2025

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Summary

This review examines the application of metabolomics as an integrated analytical framework for evaluating both the nutritional quality and food safety of ruminant-derived food products, including meat, milk, and cheese. Published in Animal Nutriomics, it likely synthesises current methodological approaches — such as NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry-based platforms — and discusses how metabolomic data can reveal links between animal nutrition, production system, and food composition. The paper contributes to an emerging evidence base supporting metabolomics as a holistic tool for quality assurance and nutrient density assessment in ruminant food systems.

UK applicability

Whilst the review appears to be international in scope, its findings are broadly applicable to the UK ruminant sector, particularly in informing quality standards for beef, lamb, and dairy products and supporting regulatory frameworks such as those administered by the Food Standards Agency.

Key measures

Metabolite profiles (e.g. fatty acid composition, amino acid profiles, lipid oxidation markers, volatile organic compounds); nutritional quality indices; food safety biomarkers

Outcomes reported

The paper likely reviews how metabolomic profiling of ruminant food products (such as meat, milk, and dairy) can simultaneously characterise nutritional composition and detect food safety concerns such as contaminants or adulterants. It probably maps key metabolite classes — including fatty acids, amino acids, and bioactive compounds — as indicators of both dietary quality and potential hazards.

Theme
Nutrition & health
Subject
Food composition & nutrient profiling
Study type
Narrative Review
Study design
Narrative review
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
International
System type
Mixed livestock
DOI
10.1017/anr.2024.30
Catalogue ID
NRmo3f02hq-05n

Topic tags

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