Biotech company BioCraft Pet Nutrition has announced a collaboration with Prefera Petfood, a specialist in premium natural wet pet food production, to commercialize cat food made from cultivated mouse meat.
The first product launched by the partnership will be a hypoallergenic, nutritionally complete mouse “mousse”. The food is a source of protein and provides an omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio that is said to be superior to traditional meat. It is described as a sustainable option that is very similar to the natural small prey diet of cats.
In most products made using cellular agriculture, the percentage of cultivated ingredients used is relatively low; however, BioCraft’s product is made from 99% cultivated mouse meat. Palatability tests have reportedly demonstrated exceptional acceptance rates among cats, who were perceived to prefer the product to conventional pet food.
“Cats are notoriously selective eaters, so we’re thrilled with the enthusiastic reception,” said Nicola Magalini, General Manager at Prefera Petfood. “It’s clear that our feline friends can’t tell the difference — except perhaps that they prefer it.”
EU registration
The news comes after BioCraft received registration from the Austrian authorities last month, allowing the company to use its ingredients in the European Union. There is currently no pre-market approval process in the EU for animal feed ingredients, but companies must meet legal requirements to ensure their products are safe and become registered users of animal byproducts.
Third-party profiling of over 100 nutrients has reportedly confirmed that BioCraft’s cultivated ingredients offer a highly similar nutritional profile to the standard “meat slurry” currently used by pet food manufacturers, with comparable levels of key nutrients such as taurine, lysine, methionine, and tryptophan. Furthermore, they have been validated to be free of bacterial pathogens, viruses, mycotoxins, biogenic amines, and heavy metals.
“As a company committed to the highest standards of safety and quality, using only real, identifiable ingredients without artificial additives or preservatives, our partnership with BioCraft helps us innovate in ways that benefit both pets and the environment,” said Magalini. “This innovative collaboration marks a significant milestone in functional, sustainable, and ancestrally-appropriate pet nutrition.”
“A game-changer for the pet food industry”
BioCraft’s ingredients are produced using stable, non-immortalized, non-genetically modified animal cells. Last year, the company claimed to have achieved price parity with premium meat-based pet food.
BioCraft expects to begin producing initial commercial volumes of its ingredient by the end of 2025, with the mouse mousse to follow. Prefera products are sold primarily in Europe.
“Achieving a near 100 percent inclusion level of an animal cell-cultured ingredient for a final product is a game-changer for the pet food industry,” said BioCraft founder and CEO Dr. Shannon Falconer. “Most cellular agriculture initiatives struggle to reach high inclusion levels of their ingredient in a final product; however, low inclusion levels don’t accomplish the objective of reducing our reliance on intensive animal agriculture. Prefera understands this, and with BioCraft’s cell-cultured ingredient has overcome this challenge.”
The two companies will debut product samples at leading pet food trade show Zoomark International in Bologna on May 5-7. Prefera exhibits in Pad. 36 Stand D47 – C48.
