Global food security: Opportunities with cutting-edge technologies for ecological and healthy animal breeding

Food safety has been the concern of the global society, as an important link in the food supply chain, livestock and poultry breeding has a significant impact on it. With global population growth and dietary shifts, food demand is posing challenges in resource use, environmental impact, and disease risks for conventional livestock production. It is necessary to establish and promote the concept of ecological and healthy breeding, and ensure food safety from the perspective of the whole industry chain of livestock and poultry. Therefore, this review focuses on the whole industry chain of livestock and poultry for the first time to elucidate the new technologies of ecological and healthy livestock breeding from six aspects, including new breeding technology, efficient utilization and substitution of nutrition, resource utilization of breeding waste, animal welfare, intelligent diagnosis and future food. While vertical integration enhances efficiency, rigid segmentation creates sustainability disconnects, as upstream innovations often overlook mid/downstream impacts, leaving systemic challenges unaddressed. Therefore, the integration of these technologies fosters multidisciplinary collaboration across them. Future efforts should focus on optimizing these systems, expanding biobanks for alternative proteins, and strengthening global cooperation to balance human health and ecological resilience.