Neill, H.R.Gill, C.I.R.McDonald, E.J.McMurray, R.McRoberts, W. ColinLoy, Ruth A.White, Catherine AlisonLittle, Richard J.Muns Vila, RamonRosbotham, E.J.O'Neill, U.Smyth, S.,Pourshahidi, L.K.2023-02-132023-02-132023-02-06Neill, H.R., Gill, C.I.R., McDonald, E.J., McMurray, R., McRoberts, W.C., Loy, R., White, A., Little, R., Muns, R., Rosbotham, E.J., O’Neill, U., Smyth, S. and Pourshahidi, L.K. (2023) ‘Improving vitamin D content in pork meat by UVB biofortification’, Meat Science. Elsevier BV. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2023.109115.0309-1740https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2023.109115Publication history: Accepted - 11 January 2023; Published online - 14 January 2023Vitamin 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 D3/kg feed. Loin meat was cooked prior to vitamin D LC-MS/MS analysis. In Study 1, pork loin vitamin D3 did not differ between groups. Study 2 provided longer UVB exposure time and resulted in significantly higher loin vitamin D3 (11.97 vs. 6.03 μg/kg), 25(OH)D3 (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 supplementationen© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).UV radiationFeed supplementationPigsPork25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)CholecalciferolArticle