Cultivated meat company Meatly this week received regulatory clearance to sell cultivated meat for pet food in the UK. The development makes Meatly the first cultivated meat company approved for sale in any European country.

The public announcement follows what the company has called “a close collaborative process” with UK regulatory bodies – namely, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). inspections.

Meatly says the first samples of its product will go on sale as early as this year, but achieving industrial scale will take it at least three years.

Meatly says it has “proactively” prepared a comprehensive safety dossier and conducted extensive testing to demonstrate that its cultivated chicken is safe and healthy for pets. Testing included demonstrating that its cultivated chicken is free from bacteria and viruses, that the nutrients used to grow the cells are safe, and that the final chicken product is safe, nutritious, and free from GMOs, antibiotics, harmful pathogens, heavy metals, and other impurities.

Commenting on the announcement, Owen Ensor, Meatly CEO said: “Today marks a significant milestone for the European cultivated meat industry. I’m incredibly proud that Meatly is the first company in Europe to get the green light to sell cultivated meat. We are proving that there is a safe and low-capital way to rapidly bring cultivated meat to market.”

Divisive technology
Cultivated (lab) meat continues to be a divisive technology. Some environmentalist argue it has an important role to play in mitigating global heating – generating up to 96% less greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally produced meat, according some studies. Some animal welfare groups, including PETA, argue that lab meat is an ethically viable alternative to industrial livestock production. Prominent supporters include the journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot. Others say that the new technology is currently highly energy demanding and that carbon and financial viability calculations may prove to be spectacularly inaccurate when it is scaled. Critics have also warned that  unexpected biological mechanisms may occur that could create hazards to human health, and that a rush to patent the technology will further concentrate power into the hands of a small number of dominant global food and agribusiness companies. 

To date, only Singapore, Israel and the US have approved cultivated meat products for human consumption.

Main image: Courtesy, Meatly