A British brand specializing in laboratory-made pet food is launching what would be the world’s first cat food! The race to produce food for our four-legged friends without relying on breeding is on…
It is a recipe that is presented as a world first: Meatly, formerly called Good Dog Food, prides itself on putting on the market what would be the first cat food obtained after culturing chicken meat cells under a microscope. More precisely, chicken eggs were used as “raw material” to reconstitute what would resemble a chicken fillet. But that’s not all in the box. There are also algae and plant proteins, supplied by the Omni brand, already known in the United Kingdom for producing plant-based food for dogs and cats.
This launch couldn’t be more concrete since cat owners will find this food made from fake chicken in Pets at Home stores. The capacity of the boxes is 150g and they will be sold for one pound.
For the masters to buy them, there will still be a final step, that of approval by the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. According to the Sunday Times, which did not fail to report this launch, it would only take three months.
The stakes are indeed gigantic. By 2026, the pet food market is expected to increase each year by 7% and represent no less than 120 billion pounds (140 billion euros), according to Meatly. An important observation to take into account in the context of global warming that we are experiencing. Dogs, cats and other furry companions account for 22% of the UK’s meat consumption. We can therefore easily imagine how much more the carbon footprint of this industry will weigh in the years to come if cats and other doggies are even more numerous.
Moreover, Meatly is not the only brand that intends to respond to the problem. Already last November, a Czech start-up obtained approval to launch the production and marketing of laboratory meat for dog bowls. Bene Meat Technologies only manufactured a few kilos of meat at the time and hoped with this green light to multiply its production by a hundred! In short, the race for laboratory food for dogs and cats is on…
