VIENNA — Biotech company BioCraft Pet Nutrition released the results of a new product carbon footprint analysis, conducted in collaboration with ClimatePartner, which supports companies in their sustainability journeys. The analysis showed that the company’s proprietary BioCrafted Meat™ emits one-twelfth of the carbon dioxide of conventional beef byproducts used in pet food. 

With a nutritional profile and consistency that is similar to the “meat slurry” pet food producers already use, BioCrafted Meat can be used as a one-to-one replacement in wet or dry foods at similar inclusion levels to traditional meat slurry, according to BioCraft.

According to the analysis, based on standard EU beef production processes, a hypothetical beef byproduct emits 21.28 kg CO2 per kilogram, while BioCrafted Meat produces just 1.73 kg CO2 per kilogram. The calculation was based on internationally recognized methodologies, including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (GHG Protocol) and the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (PDF), using emission factors from trusted databases such as ecoinvent, Agri-footprint and DEFRA, according to BioCraft. 

“The difference in CO2 emissions between BioCrafted Meat and conventional beef used for pet food is due to our unique production process, which harvests the full contents of the bioreactor, which also makes it quite different from cultivated meat production,” said Shannon Falconer, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of BioCraft Pet Nutrition. “The environmental impacts of raising cattle are caused by the entire animal, not merely the portions used in the human food supply.”

BioCraft explained its reason for using byproducts as a comparison, as byproducts are often regarded as sustainable, low-impact alternatives to human-grade meat in the pet food sector. However, byproducts are still not completely emission-free, and the analysis shows BioCraft’s ingredient has dramatically less environmental impact than both human-grade beef and beef byproducts. The emission factor for the beef byproducts applied in the analysis is mass-allocated, meaning that each kilogram of beef has the same emissions, without considering economic value.

“BioCraft’s approach demonstrates a high level of resource efficiency by maximizing product yield per volume of initial nutrient inputs, which directly contributes to the significantly lower carbon footprint of the ingredient,” said Jakob Sterlich, CEO of ClimatePartner Austria GmbH. “Such innovations are important steps in reducing the environmental impact of pet food ingredients, such as feed, water use, methane emissions and land use.”

Using the Netherlands as a standard, BioCraft’s emissions were calculated based on its ingredient being produced with mixed sources of energy in Europe. The analysis considers all relevant greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons and calculates their values as CO2 equivalents. BioCraft also recently received registration to sell cell-cultured pet food ingredients in Europe.

Because BioCraft provides raw ingredients and not finished consumer products, the assessment does not account for any emissions during the production of the final consumer product or consumer use. 

Read more about the latest advancements in cultivated meat in pet nutrition.