UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) announced the development of a growth media that is completely free from animal components. This breakthrough is an important step towards making cultivated meat, scalable, cost-effective, and delicious.

In order to grow, cultivated meat cells require a combination of nutrients - known as cell feed - that they would otherwise get inside an animal's body. Historically, foetal bovine serum (FBS) and animal proteins have been key ingredients in cell feed because they offer a rich and complete source of nutrients. But they also pose challenges to both the mission and economics of cultivated meat.

Eliminating them has therefore been a major goal for the industry since it was founded in 2015. 
"Since day one, we knew that developing cell feed free from animal components would be crucial for our vision of producing better meat for the planet and its inhabitants," says Dr. Uma Valeti, Founder and CEO of UPSIDE Foods. " Our ultimate goal is to remove animals from our meat production process entirely."

To demonstrate the versatility of its animal-free cell feed, UPSIDE used it to produce two popular products: chicken nuggets and hot dogs. The next step will be to integrate it across its entire product portfolio over time: “This breakthrough unlocks new opportunities for UPSIDE Foods as we focus on scaling and commercializing cultivated meat," said Dr. Kevin Kayser, SVP of Research. "Our teams are already working to make all of our products completely animal-free."

The team behind this milestone is made up of some of the world's largest biotech and pharma companies.  

This announcement comes after a series of milestones as UPSIDE approaches commercialization, including the grand opening of its Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center (EPIC) and a partnership with 3-Michelin Star chef Dominique Crenn.

For more information, please visit upsidefoods.com