Lab-grown meat startups target the pet food sector
Czech Republic-based Bene Meat Technologies has set its sights on the European pet food market, with the company gaining acceptance in the European Feed Materials Register last year. The move comes as pet food companies increasingly seek sustainable and ethical products to meet growing demand.
Tomáš Kubeš, head of strategic projects at Bene Meat, explained that there is a strong demand for alternatives to traditional meat as consumption declines and suppliers seek protein raw materials. They are looking at a longer strategy to diversify protein supply, he said.
Bene Meat plans to conduct a long-term feeding trial to demonstrate the safety of its lab-grown meat while simultaneously working on the construction of its first production facility, which is expected to open by the end of this year. The company aims to achieve a daily output of several metric tons of cultivated meat.
Initially, Bene Meat will focus on incorporating its lab-grown meat into diets for cats and small dogs. The company plans to scale up production and expand into formulas targeting larger dogs and other pet species in the future.
In a separate effort, Canada-based Cult Food Science, a leader in investment, development, and commercialization projects in cellular agriculture, announced collaboration partnerships with two Asian pet food manufacturers. Last year, it introduced Marina Cat, a blend of ocean snapper developed by Singapore-based biotech startup Umami Bioworks. In August 2023, it also partnered with Korean startup Everything But to add cell-cultivated chicken to its range of pet food ingredients.
Mitchell Scott, CEO of Cult Food Science, is confident that lab-grown meat is suitable for pet food formulas and will prove to be an economically viable ingredient for the industry. I think, longer term, cultivated meat will shift and become a key part of what people consume and feed their pets as well, he said.
BioCraft Pet Nutrition, a company specializing in developing cultured meat for the pet food market, has also made progress. Last year, they created a chicken cell line for both cat and dog food using stem cells. The cultured chicken ingredient is developed under controlled conditions inside a bioreactor.
While some startups focus on developing meat proteins through cellular culture, others employ traditional or biomass fermentation methods to create alternative proteins with nutritional value. Bond Pet Foods, for example, uses precision fermentation to develop animal protein. They extract DNA from a live chicken’s blood sample, combine it with yeast, and ferment the mixture in a tank until it reaches the desired density and composition. The resulting fermented meat protein is then dried and ground into a powder.
Bond recently delivered two metric tons of its fermented animal protein to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, marking a significant milestone in its efforts to commercialize fermentation technology for pet food applications.
Lab-grown meat is attracting attention from the pet food industry as companies strive for sustainable and ethical alternatives to traditional meats. Startups like Bene Meat Technologies and Cult Food Science are leading the way by developing lab-grown meat for pet food formulas. With a growing demand for environmentally friendly products and a shift away from meat consumption, these companies are poised to make a significant impact on the pet food market. As these initiatives gain traction, it seems increasingly likely that lab-grown meat will become a staple in the diets of both pets and their owners.
