Infant milk formula, produced by membrane filtration, promotes mucus production in the upper small intestine of young pigs

[Display omitted] •Membrane filtered IMF increases goblet cell number and acidic mucus.•Membrane filtered IMF increases trypsin activity in the duodenum.•Membrane filtered IMF increases lactase activity in brush border membrane vesicles. Human breast milk promotes maturation of the infant gastrointestinal barrier, including the promotion of mucus production. In the quest to produce next generation infant milk formula (IMF), we have produced IMF by membrane filtration (MEM-IMF). With a higher quantity of native whey protein, MEM-IMF more closely mimics human breast milk than IMF produced using conventional heat treatment (HT-IMF). After a 4-week dietary intervention in young pigs, animals fed a MEM-IMF diet had a higher number of goblet cells, acidic mucus and mucin-2 in the jejunum compared to pigs fed HT-IMF (P