Over the last century, research in food-animal agriculture has focused predominantly on improving productive efficiency through gains in yield and animal well-being. Impressive gains have been and will continue to be achieved, and Sir John Hammond has been among the leading contributors through his own work and his influence on scientists that followed, including myself. Nutritional quality is an important consideration in food choices and the contribution of animal-derived foods in supplying essential nutrients has been recognized for some time. However, the last decade has seen increased consumer interest in the link between diet and health, and as a result scientists are increasingly asked to clarify the role of specific foods and food components in health maintenance and disease prevention. The term ‘functional foods’ has been adopted to describe foods or food components that have beneficial effects on human health beyond that expected on the basis of nutritive value. Traditionally, functional food components in fruits and vegetables have been featured for their health promoting properties, but recent investigations have identified an impressive list of bioactive components present in animal-derived foods that have beneficial effects on health-related variables in studies with biomedical models. A recent National Academy of Sciences report titled “Frontiers in Agriculture Research” identified research on bioactive food components as a key area for future research to enhance human health through nutrition.