Meatly, a pioneering company in the cultivated meat industry, has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first company in Europe to receive regulatory clearance to sell cultivated meat for pet food. This groundbreaking approval from the UK makes Meatly the first company worldwide to gain authorization for cultivated pet food, marking a significant advancement in the cultivated meat sector.
The approval process involved close collaboration between Meatly and key UK regulatory bodies, including the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Meatly successfully passed APHA’s stringent inspection process and will continue to comply with ongoing inspections to ensure the highest standards of safety and quality.
As a result of this rigorous regulatory process, Meatly's cultivated chicken for pet food can now be sold in the UK. The company has meticulously prepared a comprehensive safety dossier and conducted extensive testing to demonstrate that its cultivated chicken is safe and nutritious for pets. These tests confirmed that Meatly's cultivated chicken is free from bacteria, viruses, GMOs, antibiotics, harmful pathogens, heavy metals and other impurities.
Meatly's production facility, now approved by DEFRA and APHA, is a registered feed business operator. The company plans to launch the first samples of its cultivated pet food this year, making it the first commercially available cultivated pet food product. Meatly's primary focus will be on cost reduction and scaling production to reach industrial volumes within the next three years.
Backed by £3.5 million in investment, Meatly has rapidly advanced its technology, achieving regulatory approval in under two years. The company has developed a cost-effective, protein-free media for cultivating meat, significantly reducing production costs to less than £1 per liter. Meatly has also secured brand partnerships with leading pet food companies to produce and distribute its products.
Owen Ensor, CEO of Meatly, commented on the milestone: “Today marks a significant achievement 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. We’re delighted to have worked proactively alongside the UK’s regulators to showcase that Meatly chicken is safe and healthy for pets. Pet parents are crying out for a better way to feed their cats and dogs meat–we’re so excited to meet this demand. We can now continue our mission to give consumers an easy choice–ensuring we can feed our beloved pets the real meat they need and crave, in a way that is kinder to our planet and other animals.”
Jim Mellon, founder of Agronomics and an investor in Meatly, added: “Meatly’s regulatory approval is a landmark event for the industry. Through its technological innovation and close work with governing authorities, Meatly is helping prove that we can succeed in commercializing cultivated products for pets across the UK. Our pets consume huge amounts of meat every day and so this development can play a crucial part in reducing the emissions, resource consumption, and animal suffering caused by traditional meat production.”
For more information, please contact: Owen Ensor CEO, Meatly [email protected]
