**5. Conclusions**

This study contributes to updating data in the literature concerning the effect of bacteriocin-producing and beneficial strain *E. faecium* CCM8558, and its enterocin M on the quality and mineral content of rabbit meat. Higher phosphorus and iron levels were recorded during both CCM8558 strain and EntM administration in rabbits. During EntM application, improved pH48, lightness, and water content was noted. In general, physicochemical parameters and nutritional value of rabbit meat were not negatively influenced during bioactive compounds' administration. This study has impact for basic research primarily due to spreading knowledge regarding the rabbit meat's mineral composition and secondarily due to the opportunity to compare the beneficial effect of different natural additives—probiotics and enterocins in rabbits under in vivo conditions. Nevertheless, further investigations are needed to assess the efficacy of CCM8558 and EntM in rabbit husbandries.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, A.L. and M.P.S.; methodology, L'.C.; validation, A.L.; investigation, M.P.S., L'.C. and A.L.; resources, A.L.; data curation, L'.C. and M.P.S.; writing—original draft preparation, M.P.S.; writing—review and editing, M.P.S.; visualization, M.P.S.; supervision, A.L.; project administration, A.L. and M.P.S.; funding acquisition, A.L. and M.P.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences VEGA, gran<sup>t</sup> number 2/0006/17 and 2/0005/21.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of the State Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic on 1 December 2016 (approval numbers SK CH 17016 and SK U 18016).

**Data Availability Statement:** Data are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

**Acknowledgments:** We are grateful to P. Jerga for his skillful technical assistance and to J. Pecho for slaughtering. We thank A. Billingham for his English language editing.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
