Lab-Grown Meat for Pets? Experts Explain How

The concept of growing meat for humans' consumption from scratch in the form of cell cultures is becoming popular, and some also see this method as a guilt-free way to generate pet food.

Among these creative thinkers include Joshua Errett and Shannon Falconer, the Philadelphia-based company, Because Animals founders.

The two have both taken the notion to what could be seen as its rational conclusion, as the starting point for their cultured food for cats is that famous and all-time favorite "feline prey, a mouse."

A The Economist report said, pet owners, "at least in the West," are more likely than other humans to either be vegetarian or vegan. That then puts them in a predicament in terms of feeding fully paid carnivores such as cats and dogs.

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(Photo: meineresterampe on Pixabay)
The concept of growing meat for humans' consumption from scratch in the form of cell cultures is becoming popular, and some also see this method as a guilt-free way to generate pet food.

Cat Food from Cells of Cultured Mouse

Mice are actually what brought people and cats together in the first place. These are two species sharing a predatory interest in rodent populaces inhabited in grain stores that early farmers have accumulated.

To square this prehistoric feline appetite with the modern world's most refined sensitivities, Because Animal researchers separated murine stem cells, which will reproduce explosively if treated well, from a suitable rodent's skin's biopsy, and therefore, have replicated them.

As expected by the firm, the outcome will be on the market by the end of the year. Lest any sensitive pet owner is apprehensive that even one mouse has been unduly exploited to do so, the firm strives to validate that the cell donor has retired to live with one of its researchers in a plush mice-filled house.

It is certainly a wise and diplomatic effort. Wild Earth, one of the competitors of Because Animals, based in Berkeley, California, who had the same thoughts about making cat food from cells of cultured mouse, decided to pull out following discovering themselves on the receiving end of antagonistic or opposing responses based on the misunderstanding that the process of production would engage killing rodents in the laboratory.

Wild Earth has presently withdrawn to safer ground. It has worked with other developers of cultured meat to examine the possibilities of chicken and fish cells.

He's planning, too, by this year's end, to introduce products made by mixing them with his available vegan pet food formulas.

Working with Chickens

Another company, Boulder, Colorado-based Bond Pet Foods, is developing something that's a step further from conventional pet food. It's also working with chickens.

However, instead of directly developing the cells, genes are inserted for nutritionally essential chicken proteins into yeast cells of brewers.

Essentially, they reproduce more rapidly than chicken cells, and nurturing them is said to be a well-known art. Bond is hoping to have dog foods with protein contents made from these cells expected to be on the market by the year 2023.

As a result of their target market, "devoted pet parents," as they are referred to in this industry, all three firms are hoping to sell at more expensive prices.

Additionally, lab meat manufacturers, whether they're humans or pets, can claim green credentials on top of being carnivores, minus a conscience.

Dr. Falconer explained a kilogram of farmed meat produces only 1.5 kilograms of emissions of carbon dioxide, compared to the 27 kilograms attributable to a similar amount of meat. Cell cubes, Falconer added, need much less soil too, and water compared to farm animals.

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