BioCraft Pet Nutrition, an animal cell-cultured ingredient producer, has announced results from an independent feeding trial comparing its new animal cell-cultured cat treat with Applaws Chicken Creamy Lickable Treat. Cats showed no statistically significant preference between the two products, and when it came to first bite, cats chose each product exactly 50 percent of the time.
Palatability has been one of the hardest hurdles for animal cell-cultured ingredients to clear. The industry has spent years building its case on safety, sustainability and nutrition, but a manufacturer’s first question is usually simpler: will a pet actually eat it? Applaws’ lickable treats are widely regarded as some of the most palatable products on shelves today, which is what made them the right benchmark for BioCraft’s new cat treat.
Methodology, findings and formulation
The trial was run by Regionales-Produkt-Panel (RPP), a German market research firm with more than 50 years of petfood testing experience. RPP employees observed the feedings in the cats’ homes and offered them 30-gram portions of both products side by side in neutral bowls, with positions rotated across households to control for any side preference.
In the overall preference measure, 17 of the 40 cats ate more of BioCraft’s treat, 19 ate more of Applaws, and four ate equal amounts of both products. RPP determined that the observed difference was not statistically significant. First-bite choice was evenly divided, with 20 cats choosing BioCraft first and 20 choosing Applaws first.
“Going into this test, we purposely wanted to measure ourselves against one of the most trusted treats that cats actually love,” said Dr Shannon Falconer, founder and CEO of BioCraft Pet Nutrition. “Seeing cats split their first bites right down the middle, with no statistically meaningful preference either way, tells us our new cell-cultured lickable treat can already compete on taste, not just on safety and sustainability.”
The company formulated this specific recipe by combining its mouse cell-cultured ingredient with other regulatory-approved, clean-label, animal-free components to create a complete, ready-to-market lickable treat optimised for the feline palate.
Petfood manufacturers can launch the product as-is under their own brand, or use it as a foundation to build out a broader range of products. This gives manufacturers a route to market that skips the formulation R&D typically required to bring an animal cell-cultured ingredient into a finished, shelf-ready product.
BioCraft’s in-house palatability capability
Beyond its animal cell-cultured ingredient, BioCraft has also built a proprietary palatability capability in-house.
“Our earliest palatability trials with the ingredient transparently didn’t go very well,” said Falconer. “We didn’t want to mask off-notes with the palatants already on the market, so instead we identified what was causing the poor palatability, removed it, and then found the components that would synergise with our ingredient to bring out its natural, tasty notes, making the final product irresistible to the feline nose.”
That capability stems from BioCraft’s AI-guided formulation methodology. Rather than relying on trial-and-error, the team feeds human and feline trial data into generative AI models, which analyse the sensory outcomes and generate structured experimental designs to pinpoint key cost-effective palatability levers. This data-driven, AI-assisted workflow translates directly to dry food, wet food and toppers, establishing a scalable blueprint across BioCraft’s product portfolio