Cultured Cell Pet Products are Here – Truth about Pet Food
CULT Food Science Corp has announced three pet product companies that will utilize cultured cell meats and fish. “The new brands will leverage cultivated ingredients in partnership with the Company’s portfolio companies, aiming to be a first mover in making cultured meat available for pets in North America.”
The press release states:
“Noochies! (formerly Because Animals brand): Noochies! uses a patented, cell-cultured nutritional yeast – called Bmmune™ – to make premium cat and dog foods with comparable nutrient specifications to beef or lamb. Bmmune™ is a high protein, all natural blend that contains all 10 amino acids that dogs need to thrive – including bioactive ingredients that soothe digestion and B vitamins for immune function.
The Noochies! product line-up includes high nutrition supplements, single ingredient treats, and complete nutrition foods that are made with a patented blend of cell-cultured nutritional yeast and fermented proteins. The brand also includes a high protein, umami, animal-free treat just for cats, the first of its kind in North America. The products are slated to launch in Q3 2023.”
“Indiana Pet Foods: Based in the heartland of the Hoosier State, Indiana Pet Foods is a cell-based dog food and treat brand made with high purity, tier-1 collagen, formulated for active and senior dogs. Collagen has been shown to benefit dogs with osteoarthritis, helping to increase their mobility. With cell-cultured collagen, Indiana Pet Foods can deliver wholesome, premium nutrition to dogs, with lower environmental impact.”
“Marina Cat: Marina Cat is focused on the health benefits of ocean-derived ingredients that promote longevity and immunity. It’s a modern treat for cats, exclusively using cell-based fish and marine ingredients, avoiding high impact ocean harvesting, but extending all nine lives of our feline friends.”
The FDA has made no announcement regarding the use of cultured cell products in pet food, but the agency has published information on these products for human food.
The FDA states: “The ability to take a small number of cells from living animals and grow them in a controlled environment to create food made from cultured animal cells is an emerging area of food science. There is currently no food made from cultured animal cells available for sale in the U.S. market. As these products come closer to market, the FDA is closely coordinating with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS), which shares jurisdiction over these human food products for certain animal species to ensure that they are safe and accurately labeled. Both agencies are working with manufacturers to ensure these products meet all applicable FDA and USDA-FSIS requirements.”
The USDA would not be working with cultured cell pet product manufacturers, pet products are not within USDA jurisdiction.
We asked the FDA to comment on these products (as they have in human food cultured cell products) in December 2022, the agency stated: “All substances added in the manufacturing of such a product must be safe for their intended use in animal food. We generally don’t comment on firms and their products; however, we would be happy to talk to any pet food manufacturers about appropriate regulatory pathways for marketing such food.”
And then there is AAFCO. Pet food ingredients are different than human food ingredients. Each pet food ingredient must be either GRAS approved (Generally Recognized As Safe through FDA) or defined by AAFCO. Pet products are required to use only AAFCO defined or GRAS ingredients, and regulators often will refuse to allow products to be sold that are not AAFCO defined or GRAS.
Regulators can be VERY picky if they choose to. As example, in recent years a pet food included Sea Salt in their product and listed the ingredient on their label (instead of traditional Salt). Regulators refused to allow the product to include Sea Salt because the ingredient does not have an AAFCO definition.
Or regulators can be very lax, allowing these products to be sold at their discretion. As example pea protein ingredients were allowed in pet foods for years before the ingredient was defined by AAFCO.
To our knowledge, cultured cell animal proteins have NOT been defined through AAFCO. This process would take – at the very least – a year to complete (but more like several years considering this is a very new category of food).
CULT Food Science appears to classify the cultured cell animal proteins as “yeast“. The company stated they use “a patented, cell-cultured nutritional yeast – called Bmmune™ – to make premium cat and dog foods with comparable nutrient specifications to beef or lamb.” Classifying cultured cell animal proteins as yeast, could mean the ingredients already meet an existing AAFCO yeast definition (and the products could be legally sold).
But…classifying cultured cell animal proteins as yeast also means the ingredient list will NOT state ‘cultured cell beef’ or ‘cultured cell lamb’. AAFCO regulations require the AAFCO defined term to be used in the ingredient list of a pet food. IF these cultured cell animal protein ingredients are being classified as yeast, the ingredient list on these products will state “yeast”. The pet food/treat label will not clearly inform pet owners the product is made from cultured cell animal proteins.
Cult Food Science states their treats will be available in the pet food market later this year.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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