- The first cans of lab-grown chicken cat food were produced last week
Lab-grown ‘meat’ will hit British supermarket shelves for the first time in the coming months – but cats will be the first to feast on the new eco-friendly product.
The ‘meat’ is made by London-based startup Meatly, which produced its first cans of pet food last week and hopes to sell them later this year.
The product is aimed at environmentally conscious pet owners who want to feed their cats without having to worry about the supposed animal welfare concerns and climate change of industrial farming.
UK pets account for 22 per cent of UK meat consumption, which is more than what the country’s children eat, according to research by Meatly.
150g tins of cat food – enough for one serving – cost around £1 and contain foods made by taking cells from chicken eggs and replicating them in vats.
Growing cells in vats is similar to the process of making beer or yoghurt. Meatly is awaiting regulatory sign-off from the Department of Food, which they expect to be granted within three months.
Meatly’s founder and chief executive, Owen Ensor, said: ‘I really hope we can sell it this year.’
Lab-grown pet food products should be embraced by vegans who feel bad about feeding their pets meat, like Lewis Hamilton.
The F1 champion, 39, who has used the diet for its supposed environment-saving properties, previously sparked a major backlash when he revealed his bulldog Roscoe was being fed a plant-based diet in 2021.
Cutting out meat and dairy products is thought to reduce the eater’s carbon footprint by reducing greenhouse gases from cows.
But animal nutritionists warn that a meat-free diet for dogs may lack essential vitamins.
Nicole Paley, of the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association, said in 2021: ‘We advise that vegan diets – which contain no animal products – are carefully reviewed by a vet or animal nutritionist.’
And television vet Dr Scott Miller, who has appeared as an expert on the BBC’s Crufts, says a vegan diet can be ‘extremely dangerous’ for dogs, and often removes meat from them because only at the owner’s discretion.
He said: ‘Dogs and cats have sharper teeth for catching meat. As much as it makes sense for you to be a vegan, when it comes to our pets it becomes a problem.’
It comes as researchers at the University of California are asking people to eat mold to save the planet.
Berkeley boffins are using genetic engineering to create proteins and meat substitutes from genes found in the koji mold already used to ferment sake, soy sauce, and miso.
The researchers have, so far, bioengineered the fungi into a patty that they fry to resemble a ‘tempting-looking burger,’ but this is just the jumping-off point for the team.
They hope to modify the mold to control the taste and texture of the product and create a food line that will appeal to ‘even the most sophisticated palate.’
