On this day in vegan history · February 7, 2025
Chick Bites Go On Sale
A dog treat made partly from chicken grown in a bioreactor went on sale in a London pet shop, and cultivated meat had its first real customer anywhere on earth.
The facts
- Date
- 7 February 2025
- Location
- Pets at Home, Brentford, west London
- Product
- 50g pouches of Chick Bites, about 750 available at £3.49 each
- Made by
- Meatly (cultivated chicken) and THE PACK (plant-based dog food), sold through investor Pets at Home
On 7 February 2025, a Pets at Home store in Brentford, west London, put a small batch of dog treats on the shelf that had never existed before. Chick Bites blended plant ingredients from the brand THE PACK with chicken grown from animal cells by the startup Meatly, rather than raised and slaughtered. About 750 of the 50g pouches went on sale at £3.49 each, in a limited release meant to test whether pet owners would actually buy it. It was the first commercial sale of cultivated meat anywhere in the world, and it happened in the dog treat aisle rather than a restaurant or a supermarket meat case. Pets at Home was also one of Meatly's investors, so the retailer had its own stake in the answer.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
Just two years ago this felt like a moon shot. Today we take off.
Owen Ensor, Founding CEO of Meatly, in the launch announcement
Source: Pets at Home -
The launch of our Chick Bites treats is a watershed moment for the pet food industry.
Damien Clarkson, CEO and Co-Founder of THE PACK, in the launch announcement
Source: Pets at Home
Why it still matters
Cultivated meat had spent years stuck in pilot plants and press releases while human food regulators moved slowly; pet food gave it a faster, quieter path to an actual paying customer, and every pouch sold was chicken that no farm animal had to supply.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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