Upside Foods opens cultivated meat centre

Cultivated meat, poultry and seafood company Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) has opened an engineering, production and innovation centre (EPIC) in Emeryville, California. 

Upside says its 53,000 square-foot site is the most advanced cultivated meat production centre in the world – designed to produce any species of meat, poultry or seafood, both in ground and whole cut formats. 

Upside’s method enables the company to create products directly from animal cells, in a humane and sustainable way. 

EPIC contains custom-made patented cultivators, which can produce over 50,000 pounds of product, with future capacity projected to increase to 400,000 pounds per year.

Upside will use the centre to develop product formats, types of meat and production processes. It will employ around 50 people in a variety of roles – from production and maintenance to food safety, engineering and plant management. 

Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods said, “When we founded Upside in 2015, it was the only cultivated meat company in a world full of sceptics. When we talked about our dream of scaling up production, it was just that – a dream. Today, that dream becomes a reality. The journey from tiny cells to EPIC has been an incredible one, and we are just getting started.”

“Today, our team at Upside has made history,” added Konrad Müller-Auffermann, senior director of engineering at Upside. “This facility is a gamechanger not just for Upside Foods, but also for the entire food system. I’m so proud of our team for helping to define the future of food, and I can’t wait to share our delicious, real meat with the world. ”

The centre will also include state-of-the-art assurance facilities to test food safety and quality, an office for federal inspectors to oversee the process (like in all meat facilities in the US), as well as areas to mill and mix cell feed and formulate, package and test products, a modern kitchen for tasting, and office and conference rooms of staff members. 

Located in an urban area in California, Upside will also offer consumer tours of the centre – with the first taking place in January 2022.