What’s going on here?
For the first time in the UK, dog food made from lab-grown ‘meat’ has gone on sale this February. This comes after the UK became the first country in Europe to endorse cultivated meat for use in pet food back in 2024. The pet food is produced in a factory rather than containing meat from traditional poultry farming. Although it remains genetically identical to conventional meat sources.
It’s made by taking cells from a single chicken egg, which continue to divide and grow, in a fermentation process similar to that used for brewing beer. Once harvested, the grown chicken cells can be mixed with vegetable protein, molded and then cooked into food good enough for our canine friends. And of course, it’s been approved by regulators like the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
What does this mean?
Lab-grown meats have the potential to remove the need for farmed animals from the pet food industry, meaning that no other animals are harmed in the production of our pets food. Research published by Meatly, the manufacturer of lab-grown dog treats, also suggests it could help reduce carbon emissions as well as land and water usage. Life-cycle assessment research also suggests cultivated meat could cause up to 92% less climate emissions compared to conventional beef.
As resource scarcity continues to be a major threat to billions of people across the world, lab-grown meat offers a solution to help protect our Earth’s natural resources. Factories take up less space than farmed animals. They also don’t get ill, meaning, lab-grown meats help reduce the global demand for antibiotic use within current farming practices.
The global pet food industry has a climate impact similar to that of Mozambique or the Philippines.
Source: ‘The global environmental paw print of pet food‘
Why should we care?
What we eat has a huge impact on the planet, and that’s also true for our pets. The global pet food industry has a climate impact similar to that of Mozambique or the Philippines. Lab-grown meat has the potential to help reduce the carbon footprint of the UK pet food market and the role we play in reducing global resource scarcity.
Be Curious!
- Check out this report by BCG on the promising future of alternative proteins for both human and animal consumption.
- Interested in learning more about the environmental impact of your pets food? Have a look at this article by The University of Edinburgh’s Royal School of Veterinary Studies: ‘Behind the environmental impacts of pet foods’.
- From our archive: How to Make Pet Ownership More Sustainable: What’s Your Pet’s Environmental Pawprint?
