July 17, 2024
The UK has become the first European country to approve the sale of lab grown meat, after regulators this morning gave the green light for the sale of pet food made using cultivated chicken. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency have granted approval to UK pet food start up Meatly to produce and handle cultivated chicken at its production facility It is believed to be the first ever approval for the sale of pet food made using cultivated meat. Owen Ensor, CEO at Meatly, welcomed the regulatory approval as a "significant milestone" for Europe's emerging cultivated meat industry. "We are proving that there is a safe and low-capital way to rapidly bring cultivated meat to market," he said. "We're delighted to have worked proactively alongside the UK's regulators to showcase that Meatly chicken is safe and healthy for pets." The company aims to launch the first samples of commercially available pet food this year, and scale up production to reach industrial volumes over the next three years. To make cultivated chicken, Meatly takes sample of cells extracted from a chicken egg and grows them in large temperature-controlled containers, where they are "fed" vitamins, amino acids, and minerals. Advocates of cultivated meat argue it emits a fraction of the greenhouse gases of conventionally farmed meat while requiring a tiny amount of land, harming no animals, and resulting in products that identical in taste. Singapore was the first country to approve the sale of cultured chicken in 2020. In the years since, the US has approved cultured chicken and Israel has provided regulatory approval for cultured beef. Ensor said there was significant demand for more sustainable pet food products from cat and dog owners. "Pet parents are crying out for a better way to feed their cats and dogs meat - we're so excited to meet this demand," he said. "We can now continue our mission to give consumers an easy choice - ensuring we can feed our beloved pets the real meat they need and crave, in a way that is kinder to our planet and other animals." A growing body of research has highlighted the various ways food consumption by dogs and cats is driving environmental degradation and climate change. For instance, one 2017 study found dogs and cats in the US are responsible for roughly a third of the nation's meat consumption. As such the pet food industry is seen a major contributor to the livestock sector's significant impact on land conservation, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and methane emissions. Meatly said it had conducted extensive testing to demonstrate its cultivated chicken was safe and healthy for pets, noting its final chicken product was free from "GMOs, antibiotics, harmful pathogens, heavy metals, and other impurities". Jim Mellon, founder of Agronomics, an investor in Meatly, said the approval was a "landmark event for the industry". "Through its technological innovation and close work with governing authorities, Meatly is helping prove that we can succeed in commercialising cultivated products for pets across the UK," he said. "Our pets consume huge amounts of meat every day and so this development can play a crucial part in reducing the emissions, resource consumption, and animal suffering caused by traditional meat production."