Friends & Family Pet Food Company (FnF) has entered into a strategic collaboration with Berkeley, California biotech company Novel Farms.

Through the collaboration, the companies hope to produce a new class of cultivated-meat pet foods.

Novel Farms cultivates a variety of animal meat including quail, chicken, pork and mouse. Its portfolio of ingredients features several highly regarded nutrition profiles that can benefit cats and dogs within the US. Novel Farms’ cultivated animal ingredients will go directly into FnF’s shelf-ready foods for dogs and cats.

FnF has a track record of partnering with start-ups and scientists who make animal-free ingredients, bringing them to the pet-food market using its proprietary pet food platform. The new partnership complements FnF’s partnership with Umami Bioworks to create cultivated fish cat treats, which was first announced in July.

Joshua Errett, CEO of Friends & Family Pet Food Company, said: “Just like all food, pet food is a meat-focused industry that could use some innovation. Cultivated meat and fish represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remake pet food to what our dogs and cats want and need to eat, not simply whatever is left over from the human supply chain. Our collaboration-heavy, asset-light approach has the potential to change pet food forever.”

Novel Farms’ CEO and founder Michelle Lu added: “Cultivated pet food makes perfect sense as an entry point for getting cultivated products to market. As Novel Farms prepares for our own market entry in the next year, pet food is a high-impact strategic target for us.”

The two companies have notified the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, the regulatory body that oversees novel pet ingredients, and will begin prototyping products in 2025.