Feeding Our Pets?

 

If the Pet Food Industry were a country, it would be the world's 60th biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. Lucy McCormick opines that, as the only country in Europe to currently approve laboratory-grown meat for pet consumption, Britain has an opportunity to become a world leader in its sales. This would limit damaging 'greenhouse gas' emissions, as well as reducing animal cruelty (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/04/lab-grown-meat-britain-eu-us). McCormick focuses on the laboratory cultivation of animal cells and subsequently multiplying them to generate protein. There are, of course, other laboratory alternatives. One can use microbrewing techniques to produce individual amino acids. Mixtures of these, can then be converted into customised proteins. No living cell is used in such processes. One might have to ensure appropriate balances of essential amino acids. Either way, the limitation to the growth of cruelty-free proteins for carnivorous pets, might be their owners. These proteins might sound 'dodgy' to doting humans. They often appear to care more for 'Fido' and 'Tiddles' than for fellow humans. Cats and dogs also retain their hunting instincts even when satiated.