Czech Republic-based Bene Meat Technologies aims to supply the pet food market in the EU, with it securing acceptance to the European Feed Materials Registerin November last year.
Tomáš Kubeš, head of strategic projects, at Bene Meat, told FeedNavigator that it sees demand from pet food companies; the industry is looking for more sustainable and ethical products.
“In addition, meat consumption is decreasing, and consumers do not want protein-free raw materials. They are looking at a longer strategy to diversify the protein supply.”
Bene Meat is currently looking to run a long-term feeding trial to prove the safety credentials of its lab-grown meat. This will be done as it sets construction of its first production facility, which it expects to open by the end of the year. A daily output of several metric tons of cultured meat per day is the goal.
Commercially, Bene Meat will initially focus on incorporating its lab-meat into diets for cats and small dogs before scaling up to include formulas aimed at larger dogs and other pets.
Deals in Asia
Meanwhile, Canadian-based Cult Food Science, which leads investment, development, and commercialization projects in the cellular agriculture space, last year announced a partnership with two Asian innovators for cultured fish and meat.
In fall 2023, it introduced Marina Cat, a blend of ocean snapper, cultivated by Singapore-based biotech startup Umami Bioworks. In August 2023, Cult reported that a tie-up with Korean startup, Everything But, would add cell-cultivated chicken to its list of ingredients for pet brands.
In June last year, US regulators approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells for use in human foods. But they haven’t approved cultured meat as a pet food ingredient.
Cult Food Science CEO, Mitchell Scott, is confident about the suitability of lab-grown meat for inclusion in pet food formulas, and believes it will prove an economical ingredient for the pet food industry .
“I think that longer-term, cultured meat will migrate and become an important part of what people eat and feed their livestock as well.”
The inaugural FeedNavigator Pet Food Digital Summit runs March 5-6.
This innovative event consists of four distinct sessionsin two days:
- Mining the Microbiome: Balance EverythingThe
- Sustainable Sourcing: Limiting the Impact of the Pet Industry on EcosystemsThe
- Premium Categories: Does the Humanization Trend Still Have Legs?The
- Reducing Safety: Challenges in Pet Food ManufacturingThe
Each session promises engaging presentations, fireside chats, and panel discussions featuring industry stakeholders. As a testament to our commitment to knowledge sharing, the Pet Food Digital Summit 2024 is completely FREE to attend, with pre-registrationrequired.
Last year we heard how BioCraft Pet Nutrition, a company that produces cultured meat for the pet food market, has developed a chicken cell line for both cat and dog food. It comes from stem cells; the boiled chicken component is formed under the process conditions inside a bioreactor.
Bond Pet Foods in trial tie-up with Hill’s
While some startups produce meat proteins through cell culture, others use traditional or biomass fermentation methods to create alternative proteins with nutritional value.
The founder and CEO of Bond Pet Foods, Rich Kelleman, announced earlier this month that the company delivered two metric tons of animal protein to Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
That startup’s approach to developing animal protein is based on precision fermentation. This sees DNA extracted from a blood sample from a live chicken, and then the company’s R&D experts combine that DNA with yeast and place it in a fermentation tank, where it is fed sugars, vitamins, and minerals. When it reaches a certain density and composition, the fermented meat protein is dried and ground into a powder.
Bond said the testing Hill’s is doing on its protein represents a major milestone toward commercializing its fermentation technology for pet food applications.
