Upside Foods

Ten days after receiving full USDA approval to produce and sell cell-cultured poultry, UPSIDE Foods served its first cell-grown chicken to five contest winners this past weekend at a private event in San Francisco.

The cultivated meat and seafood space continued to cash large checks and garner new investor support in 2022. However, as regulatory powers in the U.S. pushed the industry closer to commercialization, discussions surrounding future challenges to scale, like price parity and consumer adoption, continue to generate uncertain expectations for growth.

Cell-cultivated protein companies appear to be locked in a race to build commercial-scale production plants, even as the industry awaits full regulatory approval from both the FDA and the USDA, reflecting the long and complex road towards widespread commercialization and price-parity with conventional meat and seafood.

Regardless of what it’s called – plant-based, alternative, animal-free, fake meat – 2022 saw plenty of money and movement in the category of non-animal-derived protein. Check out the timeline for highlights from the emerging and tumultuous industry.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed cultivated proteins safe for consumption, according to an announcement from cellular agriculture company Upside Foods today.

As it looks to a commercial rollout of cultivated chicken later this year, pending regulatory review, cell-grown meat, poultry and seafood brand UPSIDE Foods announced $400 million in new funding, bringing its total capital raised to-date to over $1 billion.