Meatly: Lab-grown meat feeding trials with dogs prove successful

The company secured regulatory approval​​ for its cultivated meat in the UK in July, following a collaborative process with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). 

Earlier, in May, Meatly also announced an R&D breakthrough with a new media formulation that significantly lowers production costs compared to the industry standard.

Additionally, the startup recently concluded an undisclosed funding round, with continued investment from Pets at Home and incoming funders including DSM-Firmenich Venturing, JamJar, and Joyful Ventures. Meatly said the funding will help it prepare for its planned launch with a brand partner in Q1 of 2025.

Owen Ensor, Meatly’s founding CEO, told us: “Now, our focus is on perfecting the recipe and moving into production. We’ll launch with limited quantities, then begin the work of scaling up to make this widely available.”

On the marketing potential of having prominent backers like DSM-Firmenich and Pets at Home, Ensor added: “Both companies are leaders in the pet and human food industries, and we’re collaborating with them to bring cultivated meat to market as swiftly as possible.”

Read more: The race to include lab meat in pet food​​

Feeding trials​

The voluntary feeding trials, conducted by Treat Therapeutics, involved 31 privately owned pet dogs across 14 different breeds from throughout the UK. The trials included at-home feeding observations, owner surveys to assess the dogs’ responses, and veterinary checks. The product tested was a complete diet made exclusively from cultivated chicken and plant-based ingredients.

Two separate trials were conducted: a single-day trial where the dogs were given Meatly pet food for both meals, and a more extensive two-week controlled trial with a placebo group that received only a plant-based diet. In the two-week trial, selected dogs were fed Meatly pet food for seven days after an adaptation period. Health metrics monitored included eating habits, pace of eating, stool consistency, behavior, and energy levels.

“Overall, dogs were found to enjoy Meatly pet food as much as, or in some cases more than, their regular diet,” noted the company “with 50% licking the bowl after finishing, 75% showing higher enjoyment than with their usual food, and 75% starting their meal immediately or within seconds.”

The startup also reported that its cultivated meat improved the palatability of the plant-based placebo diet, with no significant adverse effects noted over 134 recorded meals. “These results confirm the product's quality after extensive safety and nutritional analysis gathered over the past two years,” stated Meatly.

Committed to reducing dependence on traditional poultry farming, which he claims, has a substantial environmental impact, Ensor highlighted that “cultivated chicken, while having comparable emissions to conventional chicken, requires 64% less land and 28% less blue water.”