What Happened
Oxford-based Ivy Farm Technologies has been cleared to supply its cultivated Wagyu beef as a pet food ingredient in the UK, Green Queen reported on 4 November 2026. The report names Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency as the authorities. The company's own news page lists the approval under January 2026 and does not name the agencies, so the exact grant date is unclear. Green Queen calls it the second UK cultivated-meat pet food clearance, after Meatly's chicken in 2024. Fold Hill Foods is among the manufacturers developing products with the ingredient. Human food uses follow a separate Food Standards Agency pathway, and according to the report, approvals in the UK, US and Singapore are still pending.
Why It Matters
Pet food offers cultivated meat producers a potential revenue route while human food approvals remain pending, under a separate regulatory pathway. Green Queen notes the UK–EU SPS agreement, due in early 2028, could push UK human food applicants into the EU novel food process.
A pet food clearance opens a revenue door, but it leaves the scale-up and cost questions behind it unanswered.
FET's Takeaway
Our analysis: a pet food clearance does not settle the harder engineering questions. Pet food lines rely on retorting, extrusion or chilled fresh formats, and the available reports do not provide data on heat stability in these processes, typical inclusion rates, shelf life or cost per kilogram. Bioreactor scale-up and culture medium cost remain the key variables for moving beyond premium treats.
Verification source: Green Queen ↗