NEWS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2025 89 Friends & Family Pet Food Company received regulatory approval to commercially sell cultivated meat-based pet food in Singapore. With this milestone, Friends & Family becomes the first-ever cultivated meat pet food approved for sale in Asia. The company joins only a handful of cultivated meat companies with regulatory approval across the world. The approval was issued by Singapore’s Animal & Veterinary Services (AVS) in June 2025. Friends & Family will begin production of cultivated meatbased treats for cats and dogs in Singapore in the fall. “Part of the Friends & Family mission is not simply to replace the protein in the pet food supply chain, but to improve the underlying protein cats and dogs eat,” says Joshua Errett, CEO and founder of Friends & Family Pet Food Company. “That’s only possible with cultivated meat. We can optimize cultivated meat to have higher levels of nutrients, like taurine, and improve digestibility and nutrient absorption. And ultimately we believe we can make much better meat for our cats and dogs.” The company's inaugural products are freezedried treats for cats and dogs, with human-grade cultivated poultry as the first ingredient. “This is a big step for the cultivated meat industry, and for Singapore – which soon will be the only place in the world where you can buy your cat or dog a cultivated treat,” comments Maurice Yeo, Friends & Family’s COO. Read more>> Singapore greenlights cultivated meat pet treats Photo: Freepik University of Bergen (UiB) professors Ivar Rønnestad and researcher Sergei Budaev from the Department of Biological Sciences are developing FishMet, a proof-of-concept using digital twin models to explore smarter, more sustainable fish feeding strategies. It is exploring how years of marine physiology and behavioural research can be translated into tools for the aquaculture sector. FishMet originated from collaboration between UiB researchers and Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap (VIS). The initiative centres on a digital twin model for precision aquaculture feeding strategies, aiming to help salmon and trout farming operations optimise feeding—reducing waste and improving fish welfare. Although still at a low Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the concept has been made available for exploratory licensing opportunities through VIS. At its core, FishMet is a digital twin framework—a “virtual fish” that simulates appetite, digestion, metabolism, and growth by integrating biological and environmental data. Built on a conceptual model of neurophysiological feedback loops controlling fish appetite, FishMet is highlighted as offering a transparent, physiology-driven approach rather than relying solely on black-box machine learning methods. The model can process inputs such as fish size, feed type and schedule, water temperature, oxygen levels, and behaviour data to estimate feed intake, gut transit, growth rates, feed conversion efficiency, and even stress or motivation indicators, according to the announcement. Read more>> UiB’s digital twin framework promotes sustainable fish feeding Phone: Shutterstock | Wanwiset Aphichat
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