BREAKING NEWS!! It feels quite surreal to be writing about the launch of the world's first dog food made from lab grown animal cells but it has arrived!!!
Forza10, an Italian food producer has partnered with Czech lab grown meat firm BeneMeat.
Forza10 is launching these complete dog food trays called Coolty Meat in the summer of 2026.
Coolty meat wet food for dogs is made from 26% lab grown meat and is free from antibiotics, hormones, and preservatives.
This lab grown meat being sold in small tins, is combined with a healthy mixture of plant powered nutrients carrots, peas, linseed oil, pea protein, brewers’ yeast, sunflower oil, apple fibre, and inulin to ensure that it will be complete.
It contains 8% crude protein and is a highly digestible solution, particularly suitable for dogs with food intolerances and sensitivities as we support at Just Be Kind (particularly your dogs with chicken sensitivities as they have not used cultivated chicken cells, but cells from small rodents (murine) so this food would be a novel protein to these dogs)
Quoted from this article in Green Queen -
“BeneMeat takes a one-time sample of tissue from an animal, and chooses the strongest and healthiest cells. These are then transferred to a bioreactor, where they’re fed nutrients they need to grow, such as vitamins and minerals, as well as animal-free essential growth factors.
The process closely mimics the conditions found inside an animal’s body. Once the cells have multiplied into the desired yield, BeneMeat harvests them and teams up with food manufacturers, who combine them with other ingredients to turn them into finished products.
BeneMeat works with a variety of cell lines, but the Forza10 product contains cells from murids (small rodents).
Explaining that choice, Forza10 says the digestive physiology of dogs is optimised to metabolise the proteins and lipids found in small mammals, and murine protein replicates the ideal nutritional profile of dogs as an alternative protein source."
“The product was developed in accordance with FEDIAF and National Nutritional Council guidelines from both the micro- and macronutrient perspectives to meet the requirements for complete dog food and provide a balanced nutritional profile for everyday feeding,” said Vašová.
“Cultivated meat serves here as a high-quality and clearly defined source of animal protein.”
Plus, dogs seem to like it. Forza10 combines BeneMeat’s cultivated protein with vegetables, and in testing demonstrates acceptance from around 90% of dogs, and 100% over time.
The overall palatability was also favoured by 90% of dogs.
The same palatability occurred in cats being fed cultivated protein - they actually chose it above the normal chicken meat as shown here!!
Cultivated meat enables precise control over quality, composition and safety, eschewing animal slaughter and drastically lowering the associated environmental impacts of conventional meat.
A recent LCA based on industrial-scale models (with a capacity of producing 400-600kg of protein per day) shows that the carbon footprint of BeneMeat’s protein could range from 3.3kg to 6.6kg of CO2e, depending on the choice of raw materials and the energy mix.
At current rates, this is 95% lower than beef and 55% lower than pork."
The innovation behind it and the potential saving of animals and health benefits are so enormous - we are very excited about lab grown meat being available for dogs this year!!!
Why lab grown meat when we have highly nutritious fermentation and plant protein?
Yes we agree that lab grown meat is not vegan as animal cells are used, and it is far superior to have a protein source from pure plants or fermentation protein that has been actively shown to have a health benefit in our dogs and cats, so why encourage lab grown meat from cultivated animal cells?
Feeling very conflicted as a vegan vet, I asked Prof Andrew Knight from sustainable pet food.info what his opinion was and he replied with:
"Cultivated or lab grown meat would be seriously considered by around 30% of consumers currently feeding conventional or raw meat-based diets. Vegan/vegetarian by ~15%. So about twice as popular.
Hence huge potential for doing good (and harms during sourcing of cells are really minimal). Hence I support it as it results in ‘doing the most good’. "
I do have to agree with that statement of doing the most good, and as a vegan vet; ANYTHING that results in the closure of slaughterhouses and STOPPING the addition of the bodyparts of animals to the diets of our dogs and cats is a very good thing!
(Read here why pigs should NEVER be added to dog or cat food!)
Did you know that cats prefer cultivated meat over chicken?
When did the very first lab grown dog treats launch?
In February 2025, Dr Arielle was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of the world's first dog treats called Chick Bites made from lab grown meat and sold in Pets at Home in Brentford West London.
These sold out in a day and we are so excited to learn that UK company Meatly under the expert guidance of Owen Ensor will be bringing lab grown meat to the UK in 2027 with a recent £10.4 million investment giving us all such hope for a kinder future!
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