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Lab-grown pet food is the latest big thing, but one vet is a little wary
Choosing what food to feed your pet no longer consists of kibble, wet or raw. There’s a new option in the mix: lab-grown.
The UK has just become the first country in Europe to approve the sale of pet food containing lab-grown meat, but a vet is a little wary.
What is lab-grown pet food?
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) approved lab-grown pet food to be put on sale by a company called Meatly. It’s a canned wet food for cats that contains “cultivated chicken” as the protein source, which is made in a lab using chicken cells.
Instead of raising and slaughtering animals, scientists take a few cells from a live animal and grow them in a controlled environment, Waggel explains in a press release. The cells are fed nutrients and allowed to multiply, eventually forming muscle tissue that can be processed into pet food.
One of the main benefits of lab-grown food is reducing the environmental impact, Waggel’s CEO Andrew Leal reveals. Traditional meat production harms the environment through deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and water pollution.
22% of the meat consumed in the UK is consumed by pets, which is a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, Meatly says. They claim to address this by producing “sustainable, tasty and nutritious meat” whilst “reducing our reliance on industrial agriculture”.
Lab-grown food can also be healthier for pets as it can be tailored to meet their exact nutritional needs and doesn’t include the contaminants, hormones, and antibiotics which are often found in traditional meat. Plus, it can help with pets’ allergies and dietary sensitivities.
On top of that, it has ethical benefits as no animals have to be raised or slaughtered for pet food, which some may prefer.
Vet weighs in on lab-grown pet food
We spoke to Dr Joanna Woodnutt, veterinarian at Petlearnia.com, who is concerned over the lack of long-term trials.
“My main concern with lab-grown pet food is that its too new for long-term feeding trials to have been done. We don’t yet know if there are problems with feeding this food over a pet’s whole lifetime,” she told The Focus.
“That said, it has passed all the legal requirements to be marketed, which includes a lot of safety testing and nutrient analysis, and this is no different to any other new food on the market,” she continued.
Lab-grown meat has been available in some countries for humans to eat for many years now. In 2023, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved lab-grown chicken from two companies,�Upside Foods and Good Meat, to be sold in the US.
If it’s safe for humans, we can assume it must be save for animals too, although Woodnutt reiterated that “we’re missing the hindsight generated by many years of feeding these foods”.
The number of pets worldwide is constantly growing and their food consumption and environmental cost are growing too, so lab-grown meat certainly has its benefits.
“I think lab-grown meat pet food could be a good eco-alternative to traditional meat-based foods. This is especially true for cats, who require certain nutrients not found in plants so cannot safely have vegan foods,” she concluded.
However, the animal expert mentioned another emerging trend in the pet food industry, insect-based protein, which could also provide the same benefits.
Dr. Joanna Woodnutt is a qualified veterinarian who gained her degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Nottingham.
