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Cultivated meat. It’s science (but not rocket science).

Rather than raising whole chickens, pigs, or cows, we grow only the meat we want to eat—directly from real animal cells. At scale, it will be a more humane and future-friendly way to grow high-quality food for meat lovers everywhere.

01 SOURCE

Start at the source

The process begins by taking a small amount of cells from an animal. We created our first product, chicken, from a fertilized heritage-breed chicken egg.

02 SELECT

Select the Best

Our team selects the best cells — based on their ability to consistently and efficiently produce safe, high-quality meat — to develop a cell line.

03 CULTIVATE

Grow As We Go

We kick off the cultivation process by placing cells from a selected cell line into a cultivator and feeding them with a blend of nutrients, which includes water, sugars, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and salt. As these small batches of cells, called seed trains, multiply, we increase the size (and/or number) of the cultivators to give them more space to grow.

04 PREPARE

Harvest, Formulate & Enjoy!

After two to three weeks our meat is ready for harvest. We remove it from the cultivator(s) and separate it from the cell feed. We then take this harvested meat and (in the case of our first product) mold it into the shape of a chicken filet. Other products may be seasoned, breaded, or otherwise formulated before they are refrigerated or frozen and packaged for distribution. Now all that’s left is to cook, eat, and enjoy!

EPIC. It’s how (and where) it’s made.

EPIC stands for Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center. It’s our cultivation facility where we’re perfecting the science, engineering—and taste!—of cultivated meat and showing the world how it’s done. Located in the middle of a California neighborhood, EPIC was built to produce up to 50,000 lbs. of cultivated meat across our portfolio of products every year, with a projected expansion capacity of up to 400,000 lbs. once fully operational. The good news? It won’t be our only facility for long. We’re already at work on a larger space that will produce more than ten million pounds.

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innovation

Cultivation Glossary

Speak like a scientist.

The Firsts of Many

Since 2014, we’ve been the first to turn our scientific discoveries into safe and scalable methods for cultivated meat production. And we’ve got the patents to prove it—19 so far and counting! Here are a few of our favorites.

2014

001/01 EP protects a method for myogenic differentiation of cells

2018

004/01 US protects a GE method for increasing cell density

2020

007/02 US CON protects a method for growing cells on a patterned texture substrate

014/01 US protects a device for growing a meat product

2021

021/01 US protects a method for growing cells on a filter aid

People with Perspective

Our scientists are industry experts with resumes to match. You might bump into some of them when you tour EPIC, our cultivation facility in California.

Rachel Valenzuela

Director, Discovery

Mark Juhas

Senior Director, Upstream Development

Meat with Strict Safety Standards

At UPSIDE, we take our manufacturing process seriously. To ensure the safety of our processes and products, we have implemented various practices and programs that comply with FDA and USDA guidelines. These are the same kinds of food safety programs that conventional FDA and USDA-regulated food manufacturing and meat processing facilities employ, including:

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Current Good Manufacturing Practices

Ingredient and Material Traceability

Validated Sanitation Processes

Hazard Analysis & Prevention Measures

Ingredient Review & Approval Process

Food Defense Program

Still curious?