**1. Introduction**

Beef and milk sourced from cattle are important sources of protein in the human diet. Globally there is increasing demand for food, feed and fiber sources. Animal protein sources are usually found to be of higher cost and of high demand in the quest to solve and meet the demand for human food security. Bovine protein sources were described [1] to have high density of macro and micro nutrients per 100 g. Again, they were reported to contain essential nutrients difficult or impossible to find in other foods, they have micronutrients in biological forms that enhance their uptake into the body system (bioavailability). Furthermore, bovine protein sources were characterized to have high digestibility and high biological value of proteins with amino acid profile of essential and non essential amino acids that meet the human body system requirements [1]. The rearing of beef and dairy cattle is found to be of great importance in the promotion of food security strategies, as they serve as sources of nutrients dense foods, regular income and other benefits [2]. Some previous authors [3–5] have given the World Health Organization definition of food security as "When all people at all times have access to sufficient,

safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". Yearly, more than enough food is produced world-wide to its entire population, yet food security remains unattained globally with hunger existing in many parts of the world, especially in the developing countries [5]. There exist a lot of wastage through the food supply chain from post-harvest losses to manufacturing and retail spoilage and thus directly threatening food security [5]. These problems are often found to cause increased global food prices, while there is very low purchasing power in several developing countries.

The three most common ruminant livestock are the cattle (bovine), sheep ((ovine) and goats (caprine), out of which bovine are the most prominent and the most predominantly and highly valued. This is evidenced by the fact that cattle meat (beef) and milk are the highest consumed world-wide, probably due to their large body size and weight, but low monetary value per animal. The bovine protein livestock is found to be of great importance in the promotion of food security strategies, as they serve as sources of nutrient dense foods, regular income and other benefits [2]. In a previous review work [3], it is reported that livestock production and marketing are very important to livelihoods of more than one billion poor people in Africa and Asia (which is one-seventh of humanity world-wide). These researchers also stated that beef production and marketing in West Africa provide sources of income to about 70 million people and dairy production supports about 124 million people in South Asia and 24 million people in the Eastern Africa. Another research finding [5] outlined that in a low income country (annual agricultural GDP of PPP\$0.92 billion) livestock (particularly beef, dairy and draft cattle) ownership development increased income, raised the food security of those holding animals and altered the food environment of the people to enhance the diets of the livestock recipients' communities.

The challenge of food and nutrition security is reported to occur in both low and high income countries world-wide [3], though in different proportions and extents, similarly over-nutrition and over-weight do not exist only in the developed countries but also among few poor urban dwellers in underdeveloped countries of the world. This review is aimed to investigate the impact of beef and milk sourced from cattle production on global food security.
