Would you ever feed your dog meat grown in a laboratory?
It’s a controversial topic, but now dog food made from lab-grown meat has gone on sale in the UK, marking a global first. Could it be among the best dog food products for our pups?
The supplier, Meatly, said that the “Chick Bites” are the first pet food products made from cultivated meat to be sold commercially anywhere, with a trial beginning at a pet store in London on February 7th.
Owen Ensor, who founded the company in 2022, compared the manufacturing process to brewing beer, explaining, “You take cells from a single chicken egg. From that, we can create an infinite amount of meat for evermore. We put it in large, steel fermenters... and after a week we're able to harvest healthy, delicious chicken for our pets."
The egg is the only animal product involved in creating the meat. Meatly provides all the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids the cells from the egg need to grow, until they become meat. The company aims to sell its products in stores on a consistent basis from 2027 onwards.
Last week, Ensor said, “Meatly’s founding chief executive, Owen Ensor, said: “Just two years ago this felt like a moon shot. Today we take off. It’s a giant leap forward, toward a significant market for meat which is healthy, sustainable, and kind to our planet and other animals.”
Lab-grown meat remains a controversial topic. Singapore and the US have both authorized its sale for human consumption in recent years, though Alabama and Florida have both issued statewide bans and Italy has also banned cell-cultivated meat.
Proponents of lab-grown meat highlight the environmental benefits, with Meatly claiming it could eventually “eliminate farm animals from the pet food industry” as well as reduce carbon emissions, while critics highlight the price and suggest that it could have a negative impact on farming.
Professor Andrew Knight, from the University of Winchester, told the BBC, “About 20% of all the meat that is consumed by high pet-owning nations – and that would include the UK – is actually consumed by pets, not people.”
While Meatly considers its products to “adhere to vegan ethics,” it describes its meat as “pure chicken” that has proved popular with dogs in trials. So, can a dog be vegan? Well, it’s generally best to ensure that your pup eats plenty of meat – depending on your own views, this may or may not include lab-grown meat in the future!
There are vegetarian and vegan diets out there, with some even recommended by vets, but it can be more difficult for your dog to get the nutrients they need with one.
If you’d like to incorporate more variety into your dog’s diet, meanwhile, here are 32 surprising things dogs can eat besides dog food.
