‘World's first' lab-grown meat for pets launches in the UK
In what's been called a world first, consumers in the UK are now able to buy a pet treat made with lab-grown meat.
The treat contains plant-based ingredients and 4% chicken meat cultivated in a lab by Meatly, a London-based startup that last year became the first company in the world to get regulatory approval for this type of meat to be used in pet food.
Lab-grown or cultivated meat is made by harvesting a tiny sample of animals cells — from a chicken egg, in this case — and then culturing them in a steel tank called a bioreactor, along with water and nutrients. In a few weeks, a protein mass is produced with a much smaller environmental impact than growing a live animal, in terms of land and water use, as well as carbon emissions — and without having to kill an actual chicken.
'It's the first time ever a consumer has been able to buy a product made from cultivated meat for their pet, and it's the first time in Europe that a consumer has been able to buy cultivated meat full stop, whether for humans or animals,' says Owen Ensor, who founded Meatly in 2022.
'Our intention was always to do cultivated meat for pet food. We recognized that there was a huge burning need in the pet world, with 20% of meat globally being eaten by our pets. The average Labrador eats more meat than its owner,' he added.
For now, the treat — called 'Chick Bites' and produced in collaboration with pet food brand The Pack — is in limited release and only available in one London outlet of Pets at Home, a chain that operates 457 stores in the UK and was an early investor in Meatly. It costs £3.49 ($4.30) for 50 grams.
In recent years, meat alternatives have been growing in popularity, but unlike plant-based products, which use protein such as soy or peas to mimic real meat, and products that use the fermentation of microbes like fungi or yeasts to make the protein, cultivated meat is not yet widely available.
Only a handful of countries have approved the sale of lab-grown meat, including Singapore, in 2020, the United States, in 2023, and Israel in 2024. However, two US states — Florida and Alabama — have since banned cultivated meat, and none is currently available for sale in the country. In 2023, Italy became the first country to ban the sale of lab-grown meat, although the measure has since been challenged by the European Union.
Beyond the issues of regulatory approval and consumer acceptance, cultivated meat is still very expensive to make. 'Currently we're about £30 (about $37) per kilogram of the chicken that we're producing, and we'd want to be between £5 and £10 (between $6.20 and $12.40),' says Ensor. 'Our process is still quite expensive, but we've made incredible progress bringing the cost down, particularly of the nutrients we are feeding the chicken cells with. Those are often the most expensive component, and we've brought those down from what has been £700 (about $867) per liter to what is currently 26 pence per liter (about 32 cents). We have made this more cost efficient by orders of thousands in the last two years and are continuing on that journey.'
Meatly's process involves taking 'a single sample of cells from one chicken egg one time,' Ensor explains, which is sufficient to create 'an infinite amount of meat forever more.' The cells are fed with a mix of amino acids, vitamins and minerals for about a week, after which the meat is ready and has the consistency of 'chicken pâté.'
Meat made this way is nutritionally equivalent to the real thing, he adds, but free of steroids, hormones or antibiotics. Depending on the methods used in traditional animal agriculture, Ensor says it uses 50 to 60% less land, 30 to 40% less water, and creates about 40% fewer CO2 emissions.
However, one of the biggest challenges for cultured meat companies is scaling up to be able to make enough product for a widespread commercial launch. Ensor says that Meatly currently uses 50-liter (13-gallon) bioreactors to grow its cells, but to be able to scale up production, it's planning to move to a new facility that will employ 20,000-liter (5,200-gallon) bioreactors instead.
In product tests with dogs, he says the treat was enthusiastically received. 'Many of them preferred it to their baseline diet,' he says.
Pet owners — who are technically barred from trying the product even if they wanted to, because it is not approved for human consumption — have also responded positively, Ensor adds. 'Once you start explaining that the process is very similar to making beer and that is dramatically more sustainable (than conventional meat production), that we've done a lot of safety testing and have regular engagements with the regulators to make sure our process adheres to all of the necessary rules, people are just excited about it. A lot of people who have pets are animal lovers and want to find a more sustainable and kind way of feeding their pets.'
According to Tuck Seng Wong, a professor of biomanufacturing at the University of Sheffield, in the UK, and the deputy director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre, who's not involved with Meatly, cultivated meat technology has advanced significantly and is now comparable in maturity to other alternative protein technologies, such as fermentation and insect cultivation. 'Pet food accounts for up to a quarter of total meat consumption,' he says. 'Therefore, developing an alternative method for pet food production that ensures food safety while preserving the essential nutrients pets require marks a significant milestone.'
As the technology continues to advance, he adds, the culture media used for growing animal cells will become increasingly cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. 'Using cultured meat for pet food is a logical choice, provided it meets a price point acceptable to consumers while ensuring high food safety standards and maintaining, or even enhancing, the essential nutritional value for pets.'
Christopher Bryant, a psychologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Bath, who studies consumer acceptance of alternative meat, and is also not involved with Meatly, says that lab-grown meat still has to win over consumers. 'There's a lot of evidence that consumer acceptance of cultivated meat is strongly associated with familiarity,' he adds. 'Once a product becomes more familiar in any form, it will tend to be viewed as more normal, and therefore will tend to be more accepted.'
After making pet food, which it hopes will help consumers familiarize with lab-grown meat, Meatly aims to make cultured protein for people, too. 'The UK Food Standards Agency is currently undergoing a two-year project to set out the approval process for cultivated meat,' Ensor says.
'We hope to be part of that process, and everything in our production is safe for humans, it's just we don't have the regulatory pathway yet. But once that's established, we would love to bring sustainable, healthy and kind meat to people as well.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
GoNetZero and Anvil Analytical Collaborate to Strengthen Carbon Tracking Across Global Supply Chains
SINGAPORE and LONDON, June 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GoNetZero, a global decarbonisation enabler in clean energy procurement and carbon management, is pleased to announce a collaboration with Anvil Analytical, a UK-based SaaS provider of procurement and carbon analytics. Together, they aim to help organisations gain clearer, more actionable insights across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The alliance will bring together GoNetZero's strength in operational emissions data with Anvil's expertise in supplier-level and spend-based carbon analysis, which offers businesses a fuller view of their emissions profile across the value chain. "Many of our clients are looking for a single, seamless view of their emissions – across Scope 1, 2 and 3. This partnership delivers exactly that," said Soon Sze Meng, CEO at GoNetZero. "By combining GoNetZero's deep capabilities in measuring operational emissions data with Anvil's supplier-level insights, we can offer businesses the clarity and confidence they need to meet rising sustainability expectations, at scale." While Scope 3 emissions remain a complex and evolving challenge, this partnership helps address it from both ends – bringing together operational data and procurement-linked estimates and supporting more robust sustainability reporting and supply chain action. The collaboration will support organisations at various stages of their carbon journey, from establishing baselines to enhancing supplier-level visibility. "Scope 3 is often the most difficult piece of the puzzle, but it doesn't have to stay that way," said Steve Harrison, CEO at Anvil Analytical. "This partnership with GoNetZero helps turn unknowns into baselines and estimates into strategy. We're excited to work with a partner whose mission so closely aligns with ours: making data-driven sustainability accessible, practical, and scalable." With regulatory demands tightening and stakeholder scrutiny increasing, the ability to align emissions insights, even without full interoperability, offers a meaningful step forward. This collaboration will allow GoNetZero and Anvil to help companies move from fragmented data to better-informed climate decisions. As the carbon management business of Singapore-listed Sembcorp Industries, GoNetZero empowers organisations worldwide to achieve their decarbonisation goals through its digital solutions and verified environmental attributes. For more information, visit and - Ends - Media contact: press@ / Commercial contact: connect@ / View original content: SOURCE GoNetZero
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sequa Petroleum N.V. Update
LONDON, June 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News: (BOURSE:MLSEQ) Further to its announcement of 19 May 2025, Sequa Petroleum N.V. (the "Company") has continued to monitor the situation and has not received any indication that progress towards completion of the Transaction will restart. Despite extensive efforts the Company has not been able to raise new equity capital, and without completion of the Transaction the Company will not be able to maintain a going concern nor pursue its business development strategy. Accordingly, the Company has started to reduce its remaining financial liabilities as required to pursue closure of the Company in compliance with statutory provisions for dissolution of the Company and its subsidiaries, and in a solvent manner. The Company is preparing for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held in the near term to resolve on the dissolution process. View source version on Contacts info@ Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
News Corp extends CEO Robert Thomson's contract through 2030
News Corp will extend the contract of chief executive Robert Thomson through 2030, the media giant said Sunday. Thomson was appointed CEO of News Corp — whose properties include The Post, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and book publisher HarperCollins — in 2013. His contract was extended in 2023 until 2027. He has delivered News Corp's four most profitable years from fiscal 2021 to 2024, with continued strong performance in fiscal 2025 despite a challenging media landscape, the company said. 3 News Corp CEO Robert Thomson had his contract extended through 2030. Bloomberg via Getty Images 'Robert has been instrumental in News Corp's growth and transformation, and his vision and leadership are extremely important as the company continues to navigate this era of rapid change,' News Corp Chair Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement. Thomson has been at the helm of the New York-based company through several major deals, such as the sale of its Australian cable-TV unit Foxtel to British-owned sports network DAZN for $2.19 billion in 2024. 3 New York-based News Corp is the parent company of The Post. Robert Miller 3 News Corp's properties include The Post, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and book publisher HarperCollins. Bloomberg via Getty Images News Corp also signed landmark agreements with major technology platforms, including most recently with OpenAI, to license the company's intellectual property in exchange for meaningful compensation. 'Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch have adroitly sculpted a company that is passionate and principled and purposeful, and it is a profound privilege to serve as Chief Executive,' Thomson said in a statement. 'For journalists, for authors, for society, for those who strive and aspire, these are times of immense challenge and boundless opportunity. Our leadership team is acutely conscious of an unwavering responsibility to our shareholders, and we are grateful for the sterling efforts of all our colleagues as we pursue profitability and seek to realize our vast potential.'
