Rather than a burger patty, the new product is a cultivated chicken-based pet food, and is the first of its kind to receive regulatory approval. Meatly, the company behind the product, is aiming to provide meat products without the environmental and ethical challenges associated with traditional meat. They say that all of their manufacturing processes originate from the cells of a single chicken egg, which they then culture and grow into edible tissue.
As a chemist who does not eat animal products for such environmental and ethical reasons, I have been watching the lab-grown meat space with interest. While I could not see any patents owned by Meatly, I did note that Meatable, a company that shares a key investor with Meatly (Agronomics), did have a couple of interesting pending applications in its portfolio. Another interesting detail is that Meatable has an exclusive licence to opti-oxTM for food production, a technology developed by bit.bio initially with a therapeutic focus, demonstrating the innovative cross-application of advanced genetic engineering techniques from healthcare to sustainable food production.
Nonetheless, as the demand for alternative protein sources rises, it is encouraging to see the UK leading the way, and I look forward to seeing the scientific and regulatory developments that propel lab-grown meat into the mainstream market.
I, for one, certainly can't wait to try the first non-dog food product to hit UK shelves!
Regulators cleared the use of chicken cultivated from animal cells, which lab meat company Meatly is planning to sell to manufacturers. The firm says the first samples of its product will go on sale as early as this year, but it would only scale its production to reach industrial volumes in the next three years. No applications for cell-cultivated products for human consumption have been authorised in Great Britain.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.