'World's First' Pet Food Made with Lab-Grown Meat
We know cats are good hunters. Cat owners will often wake up to evidence of this ability to hunt when birds, frogs or mice arrive in the home like Christmas presents they really didn't want.
But for any cats who'd prefer their food to be ethically sourced, a UK company has made what it calls the "world's first" tins of pet food made from cultivated chicken as the source of protein.
"Cultivated" chicken is chicken grown in a laboratory from chicken cells.
The company is called Meatly, and it's been working with another UK business called Omni.
Together, they want to become the first in the world to sell cultivated meat-based products to pets.
It hasn't yet been approved for sale in the UK, but one pet shop chain has already agreed to sell the product.
Of course, cats may not mind where their food comes from, but their owners might.
Meatly's co-founder, Owen Ensor, said pet food accounts for 20% of the meat produced globally.
And since raising animals for meat creates a lot of pollution, that means pet food has a large effect on the environment.
The two companies are also keen to make their pet food "cruelty-free" — so they don't have to use meat from chickens or other animals that are often kept in inhumane conditions.
"Cultivated meat gives pet parents an easy choice — high quality, tasty, nutritious, and sustainable pet food," Ensor said.
It also looks just like chicken, according to Meatly.
And the Daily Mail reports that tins of the food could be sold for less than $1.30.
Lab-grown meat has already been approved for humans to eat in some places around the world.
But in this case, if the product does make it to shop shelves in the next few months as is expected, cats — not humans — will be doing the taste tests.
