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Poultry meat, an essential source of animal protein, requires stringent safety and quality measures to address public health concerns and growing international attention. This review examines both direct and indirect factors that compromise poultry meat quality in intensive farming systems. It highlights the integration of rapid and micro-testing with traditional methods to assess meat safety. The paper advocates for adopting probiotics, prebiotics, and plant extracts to improve poultry meat quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feed quality is very important for the development of animal husbandry and directly affects animal health and product safety. Under the right conditions, mold can grow in the feed and produce toxins, and once the contaminated feed is ingested by animals, it can lead to problems such as reduced animal production performance, tissue and organ lesions and reproductive disorders, which seriously affects the economic benefits of animals themselves. Because of the enrichment of the food chain, mycotoxins may also harm human health eventually. The breeding of ruminants such as cattle and sheep occupies a large proportion in Chinese animal husbandry, and the feed used for feeding ruminants is susceptible to mold attack before harvest and during storage, resulting in mycotoxin contamination. At present, the research on mycotoxin contamination in feed at home and abroad mainly focuses on single-stomach animals such as pigs and poultry, and there are few reports on ruminants. Therefore, the paper discusses the types of mycotoxins in ruminant feed, pollution status, influence on ruminant tissues and organs, and prevention and control measures, to provide reference for healthy breeding of ruminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a group of highly toxic mycotoxins that are commonly found in human and animal foods and threaten animal and human food safety. Total flavonoids of Rhizoma Drynaria (TFRD), a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, exert multiple biological activities such as immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidation effects. Here, a total of 160 healthy 21-day-old male broilers were randomly divided into four groups: the CON group, the TFRD group, the AFB1 group, and the AFB1 + TFRD group. The study found that AFB1 exposure altered the breast meat quality-related indicators, including meat sensory and physical indicators. Metabolomics analysis further showed that the change in meat quality was closely associated with significantly differential metabolites of breast muscle. Furthermore, spotlighted amino acid content contributes to changes in the secondary structure of the myofibrillar protein by Raman spectroscopy analysis, which was associated with the oxidative stress and inflammatory response in AFB1-exposed breast meat. Meanwhile, dietary 125 mg/kg TFRD supplementation could effectively restore the changes in breast meat quality. Taken together, these results by multi-technical analysis revealed that AFB1 exposure causes deterioration of chicken meat quality and that TFRD may be a potential herbal extract to antagonize mycotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]