Lab-grown meat for pets is here

A BRITISH brand specialising in pet food made with lab-grown meat is launching what it claims to be the world’s very first cans of cat food using cultivated chicken as the protein source. As such, the race is on to produce a new generation of pet food products that don’t rely on farmed animals.

With a product billed as a world first, Meatly – formerly known as Good Dog Food – is proudly bringing to the market what it claims to be the world’s first cans of cat food that use cultivated chicken as the protein source. More precisely, chicken eggs have been used as the “raw material” to reconstitute what looks like a chicken fillet. But that’s not all there is in the can. There’s also seaweed and plant proteins, supplied by Omni, a brand already known in the UK for producing plant-based dog and cat food.

Cat owners should soon be able to find this faux-chicken-based food in Pets at Home stores. The cans contain 150g and will be sold for £1 (RM5.90).

But before cat owners can buy them, there’s one final hurdle: Approval by the UK’S Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. According to The Sunday Times, which reported on the launch, this may only be a matter of three months.

The stakes are indeed huge. By 2026, Meatly estimates that the pet food market is set to grow by 7% a year, representing no less than £120bil (Rm710bil). Moreover, in the context of global warming, that fact that dogs, cats and other furry friends account for 22% of the UK’S meat consumption is not insignificant. The industry’s carbon footprint could weigh even more heavily in the years to come, if pet numbers grow.

Meatly isn’t the only brand planning to address this issue. Back in November, a Czech startup obtained approval to start producing and marketing laboratory-grown meat for dog food. At the time, Bene Meat Technologies was producing just a few kilos of meat, but with this green light, it hoped to multiply its production a hundredfold! In short, the race to market a labgrown food for dogs and cats is on...

—AFP a British pet food brand is introducing the world’s first cans of cat food that use chicken eggs to reconstitute what looks like a chicken fillet.