UK cultivated pet food company Meatly, previously Good Dog Food, has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s first cans of cat food made with cultivated chicken.
The first batch, manufactured with its first commercial partner, Omni, a leader in the UK plant-based pet food scene, is a chicken pâté that blends Omni’s plant, yeast, and algae proteins with Meatly’s cruelty-free meat grown from chicken egg cells.
Pets at Home, an early investor in Meatly, will be the first retailer to sell Omni Feast Chicken Revolution presented in 150g tins (enough for a single meal) at roughly £1, according to the announcement.
“Owen Ensor, co-founder and CEO of Meatly, said, “It is incredibly exciting to see the first ever cans of cultivated pet food fly off the production line. This is a major milestone for cultivated meat globally and shows that we are ready to sell product.”
David Wainwright, Commercial Director at Pets at Home, shared: “While it is still early days, we are committed to helping drive change in the industry and finding sustainable alternatives to replace some of the protein used globally in pet food would be a major step forward.”
Approval in 3 months?
However, before launching, Omni Feast needs approval from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Ensor told The Sunday Times that the approval is expected to arrive within the next three months as the safety process for feed is much less stringent than for food.
In contrast, in the EU, cultivated meat for pets must be registered in the European Feed Materials Register (in the form of notification) to authorize its production and commercialization. Last year, the Czech startup Bene Meat Technologies successfully registered a cultivated meat ingredient for dog food, becoming the first firm to be authorized to produce and sell cultivated meat for pet food in the EU market.
The upcoming launch of cultivated pet food products will position both companies as pioneers in the UK and Europe in bringing solutions to how meat is produced and consumed.
Sustainable source of protein
Established in 2022, Meatly has raised £3.6 million to produce cultivated meat products for dogs and cats, catering to a growing audience of environmentally conscious pet owners. The biotech’s cultivated chicken is said to deliver high-quality, GMO, antibiotic, and fetal bovine serum-free chicken meat at affordable prices and with much less environmental impact than factory farming.
According to Meatly, the pet food sector is expanding at a rate of 7% annually worldwide and is projected to reach a value of £120 billion by 2026. However, as the industry grows, its environmental impact also rapidly increases. For example, in the UK, pets account for 22% of the country’s meat consumption, representing a significant amount of GHG emissions, explains Meatly.
Alternative protein solutions
Meanwhile, Omni claims to be the only plant-based pet food provider in the UK backed by peer-reviewed scientific research validating its offerings. The company has seen unprecedented growth, exceeding 100% and achieving seven-figure annual sales (more than £2 million). Fressnapf, a leading German pet retailer and one of the largest globally, is among Omni’s partners.
Dr. Guy Sandelowsky, co-founder of Omni, commented: “Meatly’s ingredient is incredibly exciting to us at Omni, not only because it represents a virtually infinite, cruelty-free source of meat but also because it can be optimised for health. We see the ingredient of particular importance to the cat food market, which lacks credible alternative protein solutions currently.”
