Fake(fāk) Meat Might Feed Your Dog and Save the Planet(ˈplanit)

Fake(fāk) Meat Might Feed Your Dog and Save the Planet(ˈplanit)

A startup is looking to transform the pet food industry with vegan(ˈvejən,ˈvēgən) kibble(ˈkibəl) straight(strāt) from the lab. Your dinner table could be next.

By Larissa(ləˈrisə) Zimberoff

In America’s food-obsessed(əbˈses) landscape, the quickest route to a new idea is to look for something already being done—and then make it vegan. Wild(wīld) Earth Inc.(iNGk), a startup based in Berkeley(ˈbərklē), California(-nēə,ˌkaləˈfôrnyə), is doing that to pet food with lab-created proteins(ˈprōˌtēn). Translated, that means fake meat for Fido(ˈfīdō).

The stakes(stāk) are far from small potatoes(pəˈtātō). Sixty-eight percent of Americans own four-legged friends, a paw-dropping 184 million dogs and cats to be precise(priˈsīs). To feed this mass of tail-wagging(wag) companions(kəmˈpanyən), we spend almost $30 billion annually(ˈanyo͞oəlē). Pet food—predominantly(priˈdämənəntlē) animal-meat products—represents(ˌrepriˈzent) as much as 30 percent of all meat consumption(kənˈsəm(p)SHən) in America.

According to a first-of-its-kind study on how that sweet blond(bländ) lab on your kitchen(ˈkiCHən) floor(flôr) impacts the environment, UCLA professor(prəˈfesər) Gregory Okin writes that if American pets were to establish(iˈstabliSH) a sovereign(ˈsäv(ə)rən) nation, it would rank fifth in global meat consumption. This nation of pooches(po͞oCH) and kitties consumes about 19 percent as many calories as humans, but because their diets(ˈdī-it) are higher in protein(ˈprōˌtēn), their total animal-derived(diˈrīv) calorie intake amounts to about 33 percent that of humans.

“If you’re feeding your large dog the same as you, your dog is eating more meat than you are,” said Dr. Cailin Heinze, a Tufts(təft) faculty(ˈfakəltē) member and board-certified veterinary(ˈvet(ə)rəˌnerē) nutritionist(n(y)o͞oˈtriSH(ə)nist
). Food consumption by dogs and cats is responsible for releasing(riˈlēs) up to 64 million tons of greenhouse gases every year. Developing fake meat for pets may help put a dent(dent) in that, as well as the use of water and land needed to breed all that livestock(ˈlīvˌstäk). In doing so, the industry might pave(pāv) the way toward replacing all the real meat in your fridge(frij), too.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-05/how-fake-meat-might-feed-your-dog-and-save-the-planet