The future of food is now: world’s first cultivated pet food goes on sale
The UK’s largest retailer of pet supplies is now selling Meatly’s new ‘Chick Bites’, which have been cultivated from cells taken from a single chicken egg.
Credit: Pets at Home/Meatly
A UK company has become the first in the world to sell pet food containing cultivated meat.
Produced by alternative meat company Meatly, the “Chick Bites” dog treats combine plant-based ingredients with Meatly’s cultivated chicken.
Marketed as a nutritious, healthy, and sustainable alternative to traditional dog treats, the product is now on sale as part of an initial limited release at the Brentford location of Pets at Home, the UK’s largest retailer of pet supplies.
Also known as cellular agriculture or lab-grown meat, cultivated meat production creates ‘real’ meat, but it is cultivated - grown - directly from animal cells, rather than a farmed animal.
Meatly’s founder Owen Ensor said in an interview with BBC News that the manufacturing process is similar to brewing beer.
"You take cells from a single chicken egg. From that we can create an infinite amount of meat for evermore,” Ensor explained. "We put it in large, steel fermenters... and after a week we're able to harvest healthy, delicious chicken for our pets."
As well as maintaining the taste and texture of traditional chicken breast, Meatly’s cultivated chicken is also nutritious, containing all the essential amino acids, critical fatty acids, minerals and vitamins needed for pet health.
Credit: Pets at Home/Meatly
Cultivated meat is predicted to become a key solution in creating a more sustainable and efficient global food system by producing meat that sidesteps the environmental and ethical issues typically associated with the current animal agriculture industry.
Anja Madsen, the Chief Operating Officer at Pets at Home, said Meatly’s cultivated meat pet food has the potential to “significantly reduce the environmental impact of pet food and will be a game-changer for the industry.”
The growing pet food industry is often overlooked for its role in meat consumption. Estimates show that around 10 percent of meat produced ends up in pet food, meaning the sector deserves to be included in conversations about lowering the world’s unsustainable demand for meat.
Following this week’s launch of its limited-release Chick Bites, Meatly says that it now plans to raise additional funds to expand production and make Meatly Chicken more broadly available over the next three to five years.
Cultivated meat - the road to global approval
As an emerging food and industry, cultivated meat companies must first receive regulatory approval to mark them as safe for human (or animal) consumption.
Meatly already made history when in 2024 it became the first company in Europe to be approved to sell cultivated meat products. The brand’s regulatory approval to sell the product was authorised by the UK’s food industry regulators. For now though, the UK’s decision only marks it safe for pet consumption as the product submitted was a petfood. But other countries around the world have already approved various cultivated meat products as safe for human consumption too.
Credit: Pets at Home/Meatly
Singapore became a pioneer of the cultivated meat industry, when it became the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval back in 2020, authorizing lab-grown chicken bites from US company Eat Just.
The US followed suit later in 2022, becoming the second country to grant approval when the California-based startup UPSIDE Foods received the green light from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its chicken made from real animal cells. While it’s not for retail sale just yet, it has been showcased in the US at tasting events (see what Species Unite founder Elizabeth Novogratz thought here).
And then in 2024, Israel granted approval for food-tech company Aleph Foods to sell their cultivated steaks. Several other countries are said to be readying approvals this year too.
Despite the industry excitement around cultivated meat and how it could help solve the environmental impact and animal suffering involved in traditional meat production, it has also faced fierce opposition from some political figures.
In the US, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved a bill in May to criminalize the sale of cultivated meat in the state, which later inspired a similar ban in Alabama. DeSantis described the sale of cultivated meat as a threat to the state's agriculture and cattle ranchers.
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