This article discusses the issues of food safety and food security as a matter of global health. Foodborne illness and deaths caused by pathogens in food continue to be a worldwide problem, with a reported 600 million cases per year, leading to around 420,000 deaths in 2010. Predictive microbiology can play a crucial role in ensuring safe food through mathematical modelling to estimate microbial growth and behaviour. Food security is described as the social and economical means of accessing safe and nutritious food that meets people's dietary preferences and requirements for an active and healthy life. The article also examines various factors that influence food security, including economic, environmental, technological, and geopolitical challenges globally. The concept of food safety is described as a science-based process or action that prevents food from containing substances that could harm human health. Food safety receives limited attention from policymakers and consumers in low- and middle-income countries, where food safety issues are most prevalent. The article also highlights the importance of detecting contaminants and pathogens in food to prevent foodborne illnesses and reduce food waste. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an institution belonging to World Health Organization (WHO) presented calls to action to solve some of the emerging problems in food safety, as it should be a concern of all people to be involved in the pursue of safer food. The guarantee of safe food pertaining to microbiological contamination, as there are different types of active microorganisms in foods, could be obtained using predictive microbiology tools, which study and analyse different microorganisms' behaviour through mathematical models. Studies published by several authors show the application of primary, secondary, or tertiary models of predictive microbiology used for different food products.

Kazakhstan ruminant genomics is expanding through targeted diagnostic testing, SNP-array studies, whole-genome sequencing, runs of homozygosity, candidate-gene analyses, transcriptomic studies and pathogen molecular diagnostics. However, these evidence types differ substantially in their relevance for breeding decisions. This structured narrative review evaluates molecular evidence for inherited disorders, deleterious alleles, disease-resistance loci, reproductive genes and genomic-health indicators in Kazakhstan cattle, sheep and goats. We define actionable evidence as evidence that can directly inform breeding management because it involves a validated pathogenic variant, risk variant or fertility haplotype detected or excluded in breeding-relevant animals or germplasm. Under this definition, cattle currently provide the strongest immediately actionable evidence, mainly because targeted studies have screened validated defects and fertility-related loci in artificial-insemination bulls, imported germplasm or breed-relevant populations. Evidence includes Kazakhstan-associated screening for BLAD (Bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency), DUMPS (Deficiency of uridine monophosphate synthase), hypotrichosis, OH1-associated achromatopsia, fertility haplotypes and several beef- or dairy-breed recessive defects. In sheep, evidence is broader but less directly actionable, consisting mainly of prion protein gene preparedness, MHC (Major histocompatibility complex)-related immune hypotheses, reproductive candidate loci, runs of homozygosity, genome wide associated data and pathogen-exposure context. In goats, current evidence is mostly population-genomic and adaptation-oriented, while hereditary-disease surveillance and phenotype-linked resistance studies remain sparse. We propose an author-defined staged genomic-health framework that separates validated carrier-screening evidence from candidate genomic signals and international evidence requiring local validation. Priority actions include carrier-aware management of high-impact cattle germplasm, representative prion protein gene and runs of homozygosity baselines in small ruminants, phenotype-first surveillance, biobanking and national genotype–phenotype databases.

Heterozygosity‐rich regions (HRR) are genomic segments characterized by high heterozygosity that may arise from admixture, introgression, or balancing selection and may harbor loci associated with adaptation and fitness‐related traits. This study aimed to characterize HRR patterns in five Kazakh sheep breeds using a publicly available OvineSNP50 genotyping dataset. After quality control, ~25 000 SNPs were retained for 1634 Akzhaiyk, 1089 Edilbay, 532 Kazakh Fine‐Wool, 932 Kazakh Semi‐Coarse, and 282 Saryarka sheep. HRR were detected separately in each breed using the sliding‐window approach in detectRUNS R package, with a minimum segment length of 250 kb, at least 10 SNPs per window and segment, and a maximum of two opposing homozygous and one missing SNP per window. The average number of HRR per individual ranged from 40.75 ± 6.38 in Saryarka to 54.75 ± 7.34 in Kazakh Fine‐Wool sheep. HRR lengths ranged from 259.07 kb to 3.26 Mb, with an average of 0.7 Mb across breeds. Seventeen HRR islands, defined as regions shared by HRR in at least 25% of individuals within a breed, were identified, including regions on chromosomes 8 and 17 shared across all breeds. Genes overlapping these islands were associated with cellular homeostasis, immunity, metabolism, growth, and stress response, while the HRR islands overlapped with QTL associated with health, wool characteristics, and reproduction. These findings highlight the potential of HRR analysis to identify candidate genomic regions relevant to adaptation and economically important traits, providing insights for the conservation and genetic improvement of Kazakh sheep populations.

Современная кинология активно изучает породные характеристики собак для сохранения генетического разнообразия и здоровья пород. Одним из перспективных подходов является использование волос, как малоинвазивного источника информации, который обладает возможностью определения вида или даже породы млекопитающих путем анализа комбинации основных микроструктур волос. Волос является ценным, и в то же время, простейшим модельным объектом фундаментальных и прикладных исследований. Это исследование направлено на выявление уникальных особенностей структуры шерсти собак породы Тобет, которые могут быть использованы для идентификации и селекционной работы с этой породой, а также для разработки научно обоснованных подходов к сохранению генетического разнообразия и здоровья пород. Наше исследование выявило, что шерсть Тобет обладает особенностями: однорядной, фрагментарной структурой сердцевины с зубчатыми краями клеток и промежуточным положением кутикулы, имеющей узор "обычная волна" и близкое расстояние между чешуйками. Результаты демонстрируют потенциал использования морфологических характеристик шерсти в качестве породоспецифического маркера, облегчая этические исследования редких и охраняемых пород, что особенно актуально для селекции и сохранения уникальной национальной породы.

Вариации позвонков являются важной характеристикой у сельскохозяйственных животных. Целью данного исследования является изучение вариаций позвонков и их связи с длиной и массой туши у овец. В статье приведены результаты рентген исследовании у овец мясо-сальных, тонкорунных и полутонкорунных пород различных половозрастных групп. Анализ полученных рентген-снимков показал, что у баранов, овцематок и 4-х месячных ягнят встречаются дополнительные 14 пар ребер и 7 позвонков. Приведены результаты контрольного убоя 4-х месячных баранчиков казахской курдючной грубошерстной породы (КХ «Токан 1») и Етті меринос (КХ «Мерей») от подбора длиннотелых баранов к стандартным овцематкам в сравнении с сверстниками полученных от подбора стандартных баранов к стандартным овцематкам. Результаты контрольного убоя показали, что в обоих породах баранчики от подбора длиннотелых баранов превосходили сверстников от подбора стандартных баранов по выходу туши на 0,89-2,22%, по убойному выходу на 0,41-1,80%, также у потомства длиннотелых баранов были лучшие показатели по коэффициенту мясности 3,46-3,62 и лучшие показатели соотношения белка и жира 1/0,94 и 1/1,11. На основании проведенной работы сделаны предварительные выводы о том, что подбор длиннотелых баранов на стандартных овцематках улучшает мясную продуктивность полученного потомства, что дает возможность рекомендовать баранов с более длинным телом для дальнейшей селекции по увеличению мясной продуктивности как в мясосальном, так и в тонкорунном овцеводстве.

The paper presents the results of a molecular genetic analysis of polymorphisms at the GH-HaeIII and CAST-MspI loci in Kazakh black-tailed rough-haired sheep bred in farms “Razakhun” in Zhambyl region and “Tokan” in Zhetysu region.The purpose of the study is to study the genetic structure of populations and identify the distribution of genotypes and alleles associated with productive traits.Genotyping was performed by PCR followed by restriction analysis (PCR-RDF). It was found that the GH-HaeIII locus is characterized by an extremely low level of polymorphism: the A allele was almost completely fixed in all the studied groups, while the CAST-MspI locus demonstrated a higher degree of allelic diversity, especially in the “Razakhun” farm population.Statistically significant differences in genotype distributions, heterozygosity indices, fixation coefficients, and deviations from Hardy — Weinberg equilibrium were observed. The findings highlight the value of the CAST locus as an informative marker for assessing genetic diversity and supporting breeding program design. These results may serve as a basis for the further implementation of genetic markers in selective breeding programs for sheep in Kazakhstan