The future of lab-grown meat

In February this year Meatly’s Chick Bites, produced in collaboration with plant-based brand THE PACK, became world’s first commercially available dog food made from lab-grown meat, after receiving regulatory authorization from the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2024.

Assessing the benefits

A review published in Foods journal in July 2025 from a research team based jointly at Kasetsart University, Bangkok and Washington State University looked at recent scientific publications, patent trends and market shifts relating to various alternative protein sources, including cell-based (lab-grown) sources. This comprehensive review sheds some light on both the potential benefits and the challenges ahead for lab-grown meat.

Sustainability angle

Due to the rapid expansion of the pet food market, there is an ever-growing issue with the supply of meat. In fact, the global pet food market accounts for around a fifth of meat consumption worldwide. In addition, pet owners are tending to spend more money on pet food, paying a premium for higher-quality ingredients, rather than the byproducts of human consumption.

Cultivated meat could reduce the pressure of this high and rising demand by eliminating farmed animals from the pet food industry – a fact that could also appeal to the growing numbers of vegans globally. It is too early to assess the true sustainability of lab-made meat, since its production has not yet reached industrial scale.

Indeed, it is currently believed that the energy required to manufacture cultivated meat may well be higher than the energy required to produce beef. However, this may change as cultivated meat reaches a larger scale of production, with the use of renewable energy also offering a solution.

Environmental impacts

An additional potential benefit of lab-grown meat is reduced environmental impact. Animal agriculture overall is a leading contributor to climate change, and pet food accounts for around 10-30% of the environmental impact of animal food systems.

According to an article published in Companion Animal in late 2024 by Davide Stefanutti, a consultant in veterinary nutrition, greenhouse gas emissions from lab-grown meat are predicted to be similar to, or slightly lower than, poultry emissions, 2 times lower than pork, and 11 times lower than beef.

The land required for production is also significantly lower at 42-63% less than for poultry, 65-67% less than for pork and 90-94% less than for beef. Lab-grown meat also produces no animal waste, which is a significant contributor to damaging water bodies.

The lens of ‘one health’

One health is the term used to describe a collaborative approach to achieving optimal health for people, animals and the environment. It recognizes that human, environmental and animal health are all closely linked.

Research from the University of Liverpool, UK, published in 2022 in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, found antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli in 54% of raw-fed dogs’ feces, and in the stools of 17% of non-raw fed dogs.

Using lab-grown meat decreases this risk of spreading food-borne pathogens, zoonotic diseases and drug-resistant bacteria, due to the aseptic conditions in the bioreactors that the cells are grown in. Furthermore, antibiotics are (on the whole) not required for production, with only tiny amounts of antibiotics used in the initial cell isolation, pre-production.

Safety considerations

The sterile environment used to produce lab-grown meat minimizes the risk of contamination by pathogens or toxins. However, contamination is still possible after this phase of production. Lab-grown meat can reduce the risk of accumulation of contaminants such as antibiotics and heavy metals when compared with animal-meat products, due to production methods.

Nutritional adequacy

There is the potential to optimize the micronutrient profile of lab-grown meat by incorporating different amino acids and fatty acids and adding important nutrients to the culture medium.

As yet no extensive nutritional data for lab-grown based pet food has been published; however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published information on the expected composition of lab-grown meat, based on 2 lab-grown chicken products already approved for humans in the US.

Cultivated meat is expected to have a very similar nutrient profile in terms of amino acid and fatty acid profiles to its counterpart animal-meat products.

Importantly, there is no publicly available information on taurine or arachidonic acid yet – both of which are essential nutrients for cats. Furthermore, being a novel ingredient, there is no evidence on the long-term effects of feeding lab-grown meat to pets. Further large-scale research is also needed on palatability, digestibility and bioavailability.

Consumer acceptance

Many consumers are leaning towards more ‘natural’ diets, rejecting food from unnatural sources. Since pet owners are increasingly feeding their pets according to their own belief systems, this is a major potential barrier to acceptance.

A study from a research team at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, published in the journal Nutrients in June 2023, aimed to determine what factors influenced willingness to include cultured meat in consumption (for themselves), based on age.

Gen Z (born mid 1990s to 2012) was significantly more likely than millennials (born early 1980s to early 2000s) to consider lab-grown meat healthier (due to the potential of adjusting the nutrient content).

The older generation was also more concerned about the effect on human health. Ethical, ecological, and health and safety factors influenced the younger generation.

Research-backed progress

Cultivated meat could offer a promising novel protein source for pet food, with potential environmental, public health and animal welfare benefits. However, more research is needed on long-term safety and nutritional quality. Furthermore, there are technical challenges to be met in order to produce industrial scale quantities of lab-grown meat at an affordable price for consumers.