Analysis: How cultivated meat is finding its place on the pet food shelf

In May, cultivated meat supplier BeneMeat partnered with pet food brand FORZA10, part of Nasta Pet Food, to bring Coolty Meat to market. The companies claim it is the first complete wet pet food product made from cultivated meat to be commercialized, following the release of Meatly and THE PACK’s cultivated chicken-like snacks in the UK last year.

“Before the market launch, FORZA10 conducted rigorous recipe testing, and the results showed a 9 out of 10 for initial dog acceptance, 10 out of 10 for acceptance over time, and 9 out of 10 for overall palatability,” Kristýna Míčková, Communication and Education Specialist at BeneMeat, tells GlobalPETS.

The Czech ingredient producer’s earlier Try & Share Program achieved similar results, with nearly 90% of participating dogs seeming to enjoy cultivated meat treats. The study included over 350 participants, with nearly 200 providing detailed feedback after testing the treats with their pets at home in a real-world environment.

Commercial plan

Irache Martinez, Chief Marketing Officer at Nasta Pet Food, says that since the announcement at Interzoo, the company has received inquiries “from all over the world, across Europe, the UK, Asia and even the US, from retailers, distributors and media.”

Coolty Meat is now converting interest into proof on shelf with an Iberian pilot: it is being tested with four retailers in Spain and four in Portugal. Alongside sell-out data, the manufacturer is running a consumer satisfaction survey to assess why owners make repeat purchases, how they perceive the concept and how they talk about it.

After this phase, the company plans to expand Coolty Meat to additional European countries in 2027 and build the brand through PR, social media and veterinary education.

Demand drivers

Europe remains a strong market for alternative proteins, but BeneMeat has also received inquiries from North America and parts of Asia. By segment, Míčková states that “the strongest demand is consistently coming from the premium and clinical pet nutrition sectors,” particularly from brands focused on specialized veterinary lines and clean-label products positioned around longevity.

“Because it is produced in a strictly closed environment, our cultivated meat ingredient can help eliminate the risk of external contamination. The ingredient is produced with no antibiotics and contains no added hormones,” Míčková explains.

This focus underpinned the partnership with FORZA10, as the brand already focused on food intolerances. Its portfolio includes single-protein and single-grain recipes for sensitive dogs. “The environmental profile, around 3.29 kg of CO₂ per kilo against roughly 31.65 kg for conventional European beef, is a powerful additional argument, but it was not the starting point,” adds Martinez.

Now, BeneMeat is in discussions with other pet food manufacturers at various stages of partnership. “While we cannot disclose specific names due to confidentiality agreements, what is particularly exciting is the diversity of these collaborations,” the specialist says, citing prospective partners on dry kibble, wet food and functional treats.

Investments and scale

BeneMeat has directed most of its financial investments toward completing and optimizing its pilot-scale facility. Once fully operational, the manufacturer expects the plant to reach “hundreds of kilograms per day,” without providing a specific number.

“We needed to operate at this significant scale to actively identify and overcome all the inevitable scale-up bottlenecks ourselves,” Míčková says. “We are now in a position to provide our industry partners with comprehensive, end-to-end know-how and a de-risked technology that is ready for seamless integration into their own manufacturing ecosystems.”

The company also plans to develop additional cell lines for targeted applications. BeneMeat currently has a dedicated cell line optimized for pet food and a bovine cell line designated for human food applications, but it also plans to diversify its pet food portfolio in the future.

Bottlenecks

Consumer hesitancy or preconceptions about novel proteins are a challenge on the demand side. But FORZA10 says that, although it is still a niche, demand is emerging, with more than half of its customers willing to try it. “This is not a mass market in 2026; it is a market being built for the second half of the decade,” Martinez says.

Another challenge is visibility in stores. Since the category does not exist on the shelf yet, Martinez explains, there is no natural place for the product, which forces retailers to plan around it rather than fill a gap.

BeneMeat also points to regulatory bottlenecks, especially regarding human food applications. “The legislation is simply moving much slower than the technological innovation itself. Unclear and lengthy regulatory processes create friction for the entire sector,” Míčková states.

Regulatory uncertainty in the UK

Great Britain was the first market to approve lab-grown meat for pet food in July 2024, when the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) gave Meatly the green light. The product arrived on shelves only in February 2025, also as a world pioneer.

BeneMeat fears this pioneering status is threatened in the country by negotiations with the European Union for a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. If approved, the agreement would require the UK to dynamically align with EU law in SPS policy areas.

The company published a letter addressed to the UK Prime Minister in September expressing its concerns about “Britain’s future approach to biotechnology,” and stating that this is “already causing companies such as ours to put investment, partnerships and commercial plans on hold.”

“We have invested in the country, built relationships with British businesses, submitted an application for authorization of our cultivated meat as a novel food for human consumption, and prepared controlled tastings,” the company wrote.

The primary concern centers on cultivated food for human consumption, which is not yet approved in the country. However, it also impacts the pet industry, as ingredient manufacturers aim to supply both human and animal markets, and their investments take demand in both markets into account.

BeneMeat is calling on the UK to ensure the future agreement “preserves Britain’s autonomy in biotechnology, including its ability to assess and authorize new products according to its own evidence, priorities and timetable.”

Negotiating the limits

According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is responsible for food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the proposal for dynamic alignment means that the “UK would align with all EU legislation within the scope of the Agreement and, once the Agreement enters into force, rules applying in the UK would be updated in line with EU rules as they change over time.”

The EU, however, has accepted there will need to be areas where the UK will retain its own rules, as part of a Common Understanding policy paper published in May 2025. Details of which areas will fall under this exception are still subject to negotiations, which are now at an advanced stage, the FSA tells GlobalPETS.

“[The] UK Government has been clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards, support public health, and support the use of new and innovative technologies,” the agency concludes.

Innovation landscape

The launch of Coolty Meat serves as a crucial test for the acceptance, repeat purchases and market potential of cultivated meat.

It joins a growing pool of alternative protein products moving closer to commercial viability, such as fungi-based mycoprotein from biotech start-up Enifer, which produced its first commercial batch in March, and British producer Meatly, which received £10.4 million ($14.1M/€12.2M) in funding to scale cultivated meat production earlier this year.

This test comes at a crucial moment to encourage both pet food brands to develop new solutions and build a robust supply chain, and ingredient manufacturers to invest in scaling up and providing the foundation for this new industry.