We have used a mouse model to investigate the effects of mastitis on animal health and milk quality, and now we plan to extend that research to allow us to manipulate milk composition for the benefit of premature babies and underfed piglets. This is part of an EU FP7 project, ProHealth, concerned with health and welfare of intensively managed pigs and poultry. The same model is helping us to understand how drugs are transferred into milk.
Our Food Animal Model System will allow us to track nutrients such as antioxidants from when they are eaten by the animal through to their appearance in meat or milk.