Global food consumption is rising due to population growth and increased demand for animal protein, necessitating sustainable livestock production systems. This paper examines strategies to address inefficiencies in meat production, including high resource use and environmental impacts, by utilising low-value feedstuffs, agricultural by-products, and innovative supplements. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, synthesising recent research from databases such as Scopus and Web of Science, focusing on forage-based diets, grain supplements, marine-derived additives, agrifood by-products, and micronutrient interventions. Findings reveal that forage-based diets enhance health-enhancing fatty acids in ruminant meat, while marine supplements like Asparagopsis seaweed may reduce methane emissions without compromising meat safety. Agricultural by-products, such as grape pomace and olive cake, improve oxidative stability and fatty acid profiles, aligning with circular economy principles. Mineral and vitamin supplementation, including selenium and vitamin E, boosts antioxidative capacity, extending meat shelf life and retail storage quality. However, outcomes depend on feed type, inclusion levels, and animal species, with antinutritional factors requiring careful management to avoid metabolic disorders. The review concludes that integrating diverse feed resources, such as forages, marine additives, and by-products, can enhance sustainability, reduce environmental footprints, and improve meat quality. Strategic implementation of these practices, tailored to regional feed availability and livestock needs, is critical for balancing economic viability, ecological resilience, and nutritional enhancement in future food systems.

Meat’s global appeal, driven by its nutritional richness and sensory attributes, encompasses high-quality proteins, bioavailable iron, and various bioactive compounds, especially B12 and iron. Palatability, assessed via juiciness,tenderness, and flavor, enhances its desirability. Despite these merits, meat is susceptible to lipid and protein oxidation by generating secondary metabolites aldehydes and carbonyls. Endogenous carnosine and anserine act as scavengers of these metabolites, thus enhancing meat’s palatability. Additionally, meat houses an array of other bioactive compounds,including L-carnitine, taurine, conjugated linoleic acid, glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, and bioactive peptides, each contributing to nutritional value of meat and exerting diverse physiological roles. This comprehensive review explores the various aspects of these bioactive compounds. Special emphasis is placed on carnosine and anserine, which exemplify the synergy of nutrition and palatability in the meat matrix. Insights into their pivotal roles in augmenting palatability and mitigating lipid oxidation offer a deeper understanding of the multifaceted benefits of bioactive compounds in meat

Aroma and flavor are central to consumer perception, product acceptance, and market positioning of animal-derived foods such as meat, milk, and eggs. These sensory traits arise from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) formed via lipid oxidation (e.g., hexanal, nonanal), Maillard/Strecker chemistry (e.g., pyrazines, furans), thiamine degradation (e.g., 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, thiazoles), and microbial metabolism, and are modulated by species, diet, husbandry, and post-harvest processing. Despite extensive research on food volatiles, there is still no unified framework spanning meat, milk, and eggs that connects production factors with VOC pathways and links them to sensory traits and consumer behavior. This review explores how production systems, feeding strategies, and processing shape VOC profiles, creating distinct aroma “fingerprints” in meat, milk, and eggs, and assesses their value as markers of quality, authenticity, and traceability. We have also summarized the advances in analytical techniques for aroma fingerprinting, with emphasis on GC–MS, GC–IMS, and electronic-nose approaches, and discuss links between key VOCs and sensory patterns (e.g., grassy, nutty, buttery, rancid) that influence consumer perception and willingness-to-pay. These patterns reflect differences in production and processing and can support regulatory claims, provenance verification, and label integrity. In practice, such markers can help producers tailor feeding and processing for flavor outcomes, assist regulators in verifying claims such as “organic” or “free-range,” and enable consumers to make informed choices. Integrating VOC profiling with production data and chemometric/machine learning pipelines can enable robust traceability tools and sensory-driven product differentiation, supporting transparent, value-added livestock products. Thus, this review integrates production variables, biochemical pathways, and analytical platforms to outline a research agenda toward standardized, transferable VOC-based tools for authentication and label integrity.