Pets at Home Launches World's First Cultivated Meat Dog Treats

Pets at Home Launches World's First Cultivated Meat Dog Treats

Pets at Home has made history by launching the world's first meat-based dog treats made with cultivated meat. These "Chick Bites" combine plant-based ingredients with lab-grown chicken, eliminating the need to raise and slaughter animals for pet food.

The cultivated meat, developed by Meatly, originates from a single chicken egg cell sample. This innovative process, according to Meatly, has the potential to generate enough meat to sustainably feed pets indefinitely.

The company assures that the lab-grown chicken retains the taste and nutritional value of traditional chicken breast, providing essential amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins crucial for pet health.

This groundbreaking development comes after the UK became the first country in Europe to approve cultivated meat for use in pet food in July. Meatly's chicken received the green light from both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

Pets at Home believes it is the first company in the world to sell cultivated meat for pet food. A limited release of Chick Bites is now available at their store in Brentford, London.

The retailer, which has invested in Meatly, sees these treats as a nutritious, healthy, and sustainable alternative to traditional dog treats.

Meatly plans to raise funds to expand production and make its cultivated chicken more widely available within the next three to five years. They also plan to collaborate further with The Pack, who provided the plant-based ingredients, and Pets at Home.

"We're incredibly excited to introduce cultivated meat to the pet world," said Meatly founding chief executive Owen Ensor. "This is a giant leap forward, toward a significant market for meat which is healthy, sustainable and kind to our planet and other animals."

Pets at Home chief operating officer Anja Madsen added, "This innovation has the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of pet food and will be a game-changer for the industry."

Damien Clarkson, chief executive of The Pack, concluded, "The launch of our Chick Bites treats is a watershed moment for the pet food industry. Cultivated meat offers a tasty, low-carbon and healthy protein source which has the potential to eliminate farmed animals from the pet food industry.