BioCraft Pet Nutrition Gets EU Registration to Sell Cultivated Mouse Meat for Dogs & Cats

Food tech firm BioCraft Pet Nutrition has received registration from Austrian authorities to sell its cultivated meat ingredient in pet food applications across the EU.

After a string of developments last year, 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for cultivated pet food. Just weeks after the first such product went on sale in the UK, another startup is gearing up to sell its version in the EU.

BioCraft Pet Nutrition, a Delaware-based firm with a lab in Vienna, has received registration from Austrian authorities to use Category 3 animal byproducts (ABPs) in the EU, allowing it to sell its cultivated mouse meat to pet food producers in the region.

Companies looking to sell animal-derived ingredients to pet food manufacturers need to meet legal requirements ensuring the ingredients are safe, and register as a user of animal byproducts. BioCraft notes that it has met its obligation as a Feed Business Operator and notified the EU Feed Materials Register.

“It’s important to note that there is no pre-market approval process to sell feed ingredients in the EU, which means that animal cell-cultured ingredients themselves are not subject to ‘approval’ or ‘registration’ directly,” outlines BioCraft co-founder and CEO Shannon Falconer. “Rather, ‘approval’ or ‘registration’ is granted to the facility producing these animal byproducts.”

“Cultured mouse is a biomass suspended in liquid-nutrient broth from a safe, non-GM cell line in a controlled, antibiotic-free, animal-free medium. It is a source of polyunsaturated omega fatty acids, protein, and nutrients, for use in pet food only,” the register reads.

“BioCraft has now met all its legal obligations to sell its ingredient to pet food manufacturers directly,” says Falconer, adding that the company “is not positioning itself to sell to consumers directly”.

Cultivated mouse meat passes three-year-long safety testing

According to Falconer, facility registration or approval is “not a long process”. BioCraft filed its application to the EU in August 2024 – but it only did so after three years of rigorous safety assessments.

“What does take time are the many, many tests to validate the safety and nutritional profile of the feed material being sold – especially when it’s something new, such as an animal cell-cultured ingredient,” she explains.

This includes a full genetic analysis of its cell line, a toxicological review of each ingredient that goes into the product, extensive nutritional profiling of the ingredient, as well as the generation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan, which is a legal requirement to sell any feed material in the EU).

BioCraft enlisted a team of veterinary, food safety, and food science experts – both in-house and third-party – to generate safety data for its cultivated ingredient based on dossier requirements for an EU feed additive.

Studies confirmed that the company’s ingredient is produced using stable, non-immortalised, non-genetically modified animal cells, and is free from bacterial pathogens, viruses, mycotoxins, moulds and yeasts. The cultivated mouse meat doesn’t contain biogenic amines or heavy metals either.

Following the safety testing, BioCraft filed for facility registration with Austrian authorities, who granted it “for the purpose of multiplying cells for the production of pet food”.

“This comprehensive safety analysis goes well beyond regulatory compliance and provides a meticulous breakdown of our feed safety protocols, including stringent supplier verification processes, traceability documentation, risk assessments, and SOPs for every critical control point,” says Falconer.

“We’ve implemented rigorous quality control measures and transparency across our supply chain, and the result is the highest industry standards for safety and integrity in alternative protein production,” she adds.

BioCraft in talks with leading pet food manufacturer

It’s the biggest milestone in the startup’s nine-year history, allowing it to commercialise its debut product in the EU market. The cultivated mouse meat slurry can be used as a one-to-one replacement in wet or dry pet food at similar inclusion levels to conventional slurry, since it has a similar nutritional profile and consistency.

Third-party profiling of over 100 nutrients showed that BioCraft’s cultivated meat has comparable levels of taurine, lysine, methionine and tryptophan to that of chicken slurry, and a superior omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

Last year, BioCraft announced that its product now had a sale price of $2-2.50 per lb. It achieved this feat by developing a plant-based growth medium formulated to provide a nutritious boost to the end product. Typically, animal-derived growth media – the mix of proteins, sugar and nutrients that feed animal cells in a bioreactor – cost hundreds of dollars per litre.

Formerly called Because Animals, the firm has raised $6.7M in funding to date, and previously earmarked early 2026 for its market launch. Leading manufacturer Partner in Pet Food (PPF) is now “investigating options” with BioCraft. “Pet food producers are following this market space eagerly because there is a need for more ingredients that are supply-chain stable, sustainable, scalable, safe, and ethical,” said Patricia Heydtmann, quality and product development director at PPF.

Czech startup Bene Meat Technologies was the first to register cultivated pet food as an EU feed material back in 2023, although it did so under the fermentation category instead of as an ABP. It has since also filed an application to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Meanwhile, Cult Food Science conducted feeding trials in the US in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! brand, and Friends & Family Pet Food Co has inked two deals to launch stateside and in Singapore.

The UK appears to be leading the race, with London-based startup Meatly passing stringent inspections from its regulatory bodies and partnering with vegan pet food maker The Pack to launch its cultivated chicken in dog treats at Pets At Home.