Improving vitamin D content in pork meat by UVB biofortification.

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent worldwide and identification of alternative food-based strategies are urgently warranted. In two studies, 12-week old crossbred pigs (Duroc x (Large White x Landrace)) were exposed daily to narrowband UVB radiation for ∼10 weeks or control (no UVB exposure) until slaughter. In Study 1 (n = 48), pigs were exposed to UVB for 2 min and in Study 2 (n = 20), this duration was tripled to 6 min. All pigs were fed the maximum permitted 2000 IU vitamin D ₃ /kg feed. Loin meat was cooked prior to vitamin D LC-MS/MS analysis. In Study 1, pork loin vitamin D ₃ did not differ between groups. Study 2 provided longer UVB exposure time and resulted in significantly higher loin vitamin D ₃ (11.97 vs. 6.03 μg/kg), 25(OH)D ₃ (2.09 vs. 1.65 μg/kg) and total vitamin D activity (22.88 vs. 14.50 μg/kg) concentrations, compared to control (P < 0.05). Pigs remained healthy during both studies and developed no signs of erythema. Biofortification by UVB radiation provides an effective strategy to further safely increase the naturally occurring vitamin D content of pork loin, alongside feed supplementation.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest EJM and RM were employed by the industrial partner Devenish Nutrition Ltd. The authors declare that this study received funding from Devenish Nutrition Ltd., in the form of a CAST PhD Studentship awarded to the lead author. The funder had the following involvement in the study: study design, review and approval of the final manuscript. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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