For years, scientists have worked to perfect the cultivation of lab-grown meat products, also known as cultivated meat. Though often considered controversial, laboratories worldwide have made significant strides in the process. Today, experts can take cells from a singular animal, such as a chicken, and grow an unlimited supply of meat without harming a single animal.  

Meatly Gets Approved to Sell Lab Grown Meat in Pet Food

The United Kingdom recently approved an application from a UK startup called Meatly to prepare food for companion animals containing chicken cultivated from animal cells. The Animal and Plant Health Agency, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, gave the product the green light. This makes the United Kingdom the fourth country to approve cultivated meat in any form and the only country to legalize lab-grown meat for pet food. Great Britain has not yet authorized the sale of cell-cultivated products for human consumption.  

Meatly expects to begin selling samples of its product as early as this year. They hope to scale production to industrial volumes in the next three years. The company continually tests its products to ensure the cultivated chicken is free from bacteria and viruses, the nutrients used in the cell growth are safe, and the final meat product is safe and nutritious. Their final product contains no genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, harmful germs, heavy metals, or other impurities.

The Foods Standards Agency (FSA) will continue closely monitoring all new products. The FSA’s deputy director of food policy, James Cooper, said the organization welcomed opportunities to utilize meat alternatives such as cell-cultivated products in animal feed, providing it is done safely and within the limits of the law. “The safety of such products, including pet food, remains paramount and the FSA closely monitors any new product coming onto the market.”   

The degree of interest in lab-cultivated meat for companion animals and the potential impact of lab grown meat on the pet food industry is unclear. However, research firm Kantar notes that sales of pet food in British supermarkets have exceeded 1.2 billion packs so far this year. Meatly remains confident that there is a significant demand for the product. CEO Owen Ensor stated, “Pet parents are crying out for a better way to feed their cats and dogs meat – we’re excited to meet this demand.” He goes on to say their new product offers pets “the real meat they need and crave, in a way that is kinder to our planet and other animals.”  

Lab Grown Meat for Human Consumption

Do human consumers want to shift their own eating habits in addition to their companion animals? The answer is not yet clear. Lab-grown meat for human consumption is still a controversial topic. Though lab-grown meat is the same as traditional meat, some consumers are put off or confused by the process that extracts cells from an animal and then feeds those cells nutrients such as proteins, sugars, and fats, allowing them to divide and grow. Our society incorrectly tells us from birth that raising animals for slaughter is the only way to obtain meat for our plates.

Many consumers are loathe to accept any other options, even if those options save animal lives. Some states, such as Florida and Alabama, have even gone so far as to ban the production of lab-grown meat altogether. Dr. Asaf Tzachor from the University of Cambridge stated, “The unwillingness of consumers to shift their diets might postpone, or indeed prevent, this much-needed transition.”  

Startups Work to Bring Lab Grown Meat to Market

A report by the Good Food Institute noted a dramatic drop in global investment in 2023 compared to previous years, and the same seems to hold true for 2024. Some cultured meat startups have been forced to scale back or halt production altogether, but there still appears to be plenty of interest in the sector. Dozens of companies around the world are still working to bring affordable cultured meat products to the market for both pets and humans.   

Advocates of the cultured meat sector address the potential benefits to the environment and animals. Fewer carbon emissions, less water usage, and less land use are among the positive effects predicted for the environment. The benefits for animals are just as significant or even more critical. Meat that is cultured in a lab requires no animal suffering or death. Developing more efficient, effective methods of creating cultured meat could save thousands upon thousands of lives. Critics of lab-grown meat, on the other hand, address how expensive the process is and how it could negatively impact farmers. They even go so far as to claim that cultured meat is bad for your health, even though there is no evidence to support this claim.  

The Future of Lab-Grown Meat

Whether lab-grown meat will eventually claim a foothold in the food market remains to be seen. More than 100 billion pounds of traditional meat is produced yearly. Around 1% of all meat by volume is plant-based. It will take a long time for cultivated meat to catch up. Lab-grown meat faces many challenges that slow its progress.

Paul Shapiro, CEO of Better Meat, said, “Even if it were ready now, and the funding was available now, the time that it takes to build these factories is years. And the fact is, the money isn’t there for it, which is why a lot of these companies have abandoned their plans for commercial-scale factories.”  

Most companies cannot yet produce large quantities of cultured meat, and the amount they can produce is quite costly. The cultured meat industry has a long, hard road ahead of it. Only time will tell if lab-grown meat will eventually rival or even replace traditional meat products.