Precision fermentation is producing novel proteins and nutrients for animal feed that could significantly reduce the welfare cost of feed production, particularly from fishmeal and soy.
Precision fermentation for animal feed represents a systemic welfare opportunity — improving the welfare of billions of wild fish caught for fishmeal, wild animals whose habitat is destroyed for soy cultivation, and ultimately farmed animals who may benefit from nutritionally optimized feeds. The welfare benefits are indirect but potentially enormous in scale. Fishmeal production involves welfare harm to the wild fish caught to produce it. Soy cultivation drives deforestation that eliminates wild animal habitat. Single-cell proteins produced by fermentation avoid both of these welfare chains while providing equivalent nutrition. Supporting this food technology transition is therefore a welfare-relevant investment.