Henry Dimbleby

Henry Dimbleby

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Lab-grown petfood brand Good Dog Food has appointed former government food tsar Henry Dimbleby as a non-executive director.

He will assist the cultivated petfood player with “strategy, commercialisation, and government relations”, according to a statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning by Agronomics, a VC investor backing Good Dog Food.

The Leon co-founder and prominent food campaigner led the the UK government’s Food Strategy Review and authored the National Food Strategy, stepping down from his position at Defra in March in protest at the “shocking” failure of ministers to implement his recommendations.

The board role at Good Dog Food follows a similar appointment at upmarket retailer Fortnum & Mason in July.

Good Dog Food is aiming to develop the first ever cultivated meat products for the petfood industry.

The company launched in March, backed by Agronomics, and has since raised £3.6m in a seed funding round.

Jim Mellon, co-founder of Agronomics and chairman of Good Dog Food said: “Henry’s extensive background in shaping the UK’s food strategy makes him a great fit for the role.

“As we continue to drive the growth of Good Dog Food and amplify its impact in the cellular agriculture sector, we look forward to the fresh insights and perspective Henry will bring to the company.”

Agronomics is a listed investor in the cellular agriculture industry, backing more than 20 start-ups in the lab-grown meat space.

Morning update

It’s a very quiet morning on the markets for food and drink news as we enter the dog days of the summer holidays.

The FTSE 100 nudged up 0.2% to 7,279.87pts this morning.

Early fmcg risers include Kerry Group, up 3.4% to €85.18, Naked Wines, up 2.4% to 72.5p, and Tesco, up 1.5% to 253.5p.

Nichols, Hotel Chocolat and Deliveroo are among the fallers, down 2.4% to 1,005.5p, 1.9% to 106p and 1.1% to 113.2p respectively.

This week in the City

 It’s looking like another slow week ahead of the upcoming August bank holiday weekend.

Tomorrow kicks off with the latest monthly grocery sales figures from NIQ.

The closely watched monthly GfK consumer confidence index closes out the week on Friday morning.