US startup Friends & Family Pet Food is rolling out 12 cultivated meat products for cats and dogs in Singapore retail, ahead of a fresh $1.1M funding drive.
Singaporeans can now buy cultivated meat for their furry friends.
Californian firm Friends & Family Pet Food has launched a range of functional products featuring cultivated poultry meat in the city-state, starting with eight treats this month and four meal toppers in May. It’s the first company to sell cultivated pet food in Asia.
The startup produces human-grade meat from the cells of pharaoh quail, a game bird native to Japan, and has received regulatory approval from Singapore’s Animal and Veterinary Service in June 2025.
“We spent considerable time formulating these products. I mean that – I probably think about cat metabolism for at least a couple of hours every day,” Joshua Errett, co-founder and CEO of Friends & Family, tells Green Queen.
“We’re launching with eight treat SKUs – four for cats, four for dogs. They’re freeze-dried treats with cultivated meat as the first ingredient, formulated to hit upwards of 67% protein with high bioavailability,” he says. “We are also launching a topper – a golden, nutrient-rich broth – in May. Two for cats and two for dogs, which will bring us to 12 SKUs total.”
Friends & Family Pet Food targets various health outcomes
The new products target four health platforms for dogs and cats alike. The Pure Protein bites, for instance, contain just the cultured quail and nutritional yeast, and support muscle maintenance, tissue repair, and sustained energy.
The Digestive Balance treats combine this base with a prebiotic yeast blend to support gut health and digestion and clear harmful bacteria. Additionally, Friends & Family blends the cultivated meat and nutritional yeast with postbiotics and konjac for the Teeth & Gum Care and Skin & Coat Glow ranges.
“We’ve added clinically validated prebiotics and postbiotics that target real pet health problems, like periodontal disease, itching and digestive issues. We are the first pet company in Singapore with these ingredients,” says Errett.
“There are already a ton of pet treats claiming to improve oral health, but most only mask symptoms like bad breath and don’t address the root cause of why your dog’s breath is off-putting in the first place.
“That’s what our postbiotic is research-proven to do: adjust the mouth’s microbiome to reduce the bacteria that cause bad breath. And even more importantly, reduce the prevalence of periodontal disease. That’s meaningful for your animal’s longevity.”
Meanwhile, the startup adopted a feline-first formulation strategy to improve palatability, since cats have more complex food preferences. “Cats have specialised taste receptors tuned to specific amino acids and nucleotides, which conventional processing destroys,” Errett explains.
“But this flavour system is in our treats. My cats are obsessed with the treats. And I get similar messages from early customers about cats loving the treat.”
Combined with the forthcoming topper SKUs, the startup is targeting “protein, functional biotics and palatability”.
Low inclusion rates are ‘performative’
Most cultivated meat products that have come to market comprise a minimal amount of cell-cultured mass (such as fats or proteins), with the rest made up of plant-based ingredients. It reflects the scale-up challenges and high costs that plague this sector.
Take, London-based Meatly, the first company to receive approval for cultivated pet food. It launched a limited-edition dog treat SKU in collaboration with vegan pet food maker The Pack in 2024, which contained 4% of cultivated meat.
For Errett, high inclusion rates were a must – the treats and toppers contain as much as 70% cultivated meat content. “If we create a product with a 1%, 4%, or some other low inclusion rate, consumers might buy it once or twice, for the novelty. But if it doesn’t improve their pets’ lives, they won’t keep buying it,” he says.
“Every ingredient in a successful product serves a purpose. So what does 1% inclusion of cultivated meat do for a pet? Why is it there? I see it as performative, frankly.
“We pushed hard to include a meaningful inclusion of meat because that’s what makes a difference for pets. It’s what increases the protein, creates more appealing flavour, and delivers more digestible nutrition. That’s what creates value.”
How does that affect costs? Friends & Family is selling its treats for S$14 for a 22g pack. “That puts us in the premium freeze-dried tier, comparable to local brands like Taki Pets, or imports like Vital Essentials or Ziwi Peak in the Singapore market,” says Errett, who suggests that price isn’t a competitive factor for the brand.
“At that tier, purchasing decisions are driven less by price per gram and more by functional value, protein quality, digestibility, [and] health benefits. That’s where we focus. Either way, we’re not the cheapest product on the market, but we’re also not the most expensive,” he adds.
How Friends & Family Pet Food grows its cultivated meat
A former co-founder of cultivated pet food firm BioCraft Pet Nutrition and vegan dog treats brand Noochies (which was acquired by Cult Food Science), Errett founded Friends & Family with CSO Sarah Dodd and Jonny Cruz in 2024. Since then, COO Maurice Yeo has joined the founding team.
To make its pet food, the startup cultivates quail cells over seven to 10 days at its facility and harvests the biomass in small batches. This is then blended with its fermented whole-cell nutritional yeast and freeze-dried into treats.
“Cultivated meat does not perform the same as conventional meat in just about any manufacturing setting. So we need to make the meat sing with the standard equipment. It hasn’t been easy; there have been a few failed batches and more traumatic moments. Capacity is small, as you might expect for the launch of a first-of-its-kind product,” says Errett.
“We’re producing in batches sized for our retail partner’s restock cycles, with significant headroom to scale within our existing partner before we’d need to add capacity. We can comfortably grow several times our current output without changing the manufacturing footprint.”
The new products will be sold on Friends & Family’s website and through an exclusive partnership with VanillaPup Pet Supplies Store, a premium pet retailer in Singapore. “This is not a tasting event or a ceremonial first sale. These products will be continuously available,” confirms Errett.
“We take a very intentional approach to what we curate, focusing on the science and quality behind every product,” says VanillaPup co-founder Sarah Chong. “Our community expects the best for their pets’ long-term wellness, so we source top-tier holistic nutrition and design from Singapore and beyond.”
The launch comes weeks after Friends & Family debuted the cultivated pet treats at the Singapore Pet Expo (April 3-5), selling around 200 packs (equivalent to around 18kg of fresh cultivated meat) with an 82% acceptance rate amongst pets.
Friends & Family plans fundraise amid regulatory process for cultivated pet food
Cultivated pet food has been brimming with activity over the last couple of years, and has had several tech breakthroughs and regulatory milestones of late.
Meatly and Friends & Family have both received approval for their products in the UK and Singapore, respectively. And Magic Valley is currently commercialising cultivated dog treats under its Rogue Pet brand within the voluntary framework developed by the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia.
Moreover, Bene Meat Technologies, Biocraft Pet Nutrition and Umami Bioworks have registered their cultivated meat as feed materials in the EU, allowing them to sell their products as pet food ingredients.
As Errett revealed to Green Queen last year, Friends & Family itself has clearance in several other countries. It had been engaging with the US FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), too, after striking partnerships with Umami Bioworks and Novel Farms (which have since been ended).
The re-election of Donald Trump and the chaotic restructuring and policymaking stalled progress, with the company deciding to adopt a wait-and-see approach. Since then, an eighth state has banned the sale of cultivated meat, and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has noted that these products would “have to get through a lot of scepticism” from the FDA “to show that they’re safe”.
“America is on our roadmap. I know the market here very well, and have all the pieces to conduct the feeding trials and set up production,” says Errett, before reiterating the focus on commercial execution in Singapore first.
Here, the company is working with the Centre for Applied Nutrition at Temasek Polytechnic for its formulations. “They have the equipment, veterinary expertise and feeding trial infrastructure we need to develop a daily food product. Once we complete the formulation work and feeding trials, that data forms the basis of our regulatory dossier for other markets, including the US,” he says.
“The FDA designation I want, Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), requires a six-month feeding trial with cats – a trial that will have to wait till our next fundraise.”
Speaking of which, Friends & Family secured an undisclosed sum in a “a focused, go-to-market round” in December, as Errett describes it. “We’re now raising $1.1M to expand to other markets,” he reveals.
“Across Asia, demographics are shifting from children to pets. So demand for high-quality pet nutrition will keep growing,” says Yeo. “With our products now in retail and our supply chain in place, we’re showing cultivated meat can meet that demand sustainably.”
