Upside Foods Stock

EquityZen's Take: The Real Fake Meat King

Time to brush off your 7th grade science books. Cells are the basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known organisms. They are often called the "building blocks of life.” Organisms, such as plants and animals, wouldn’t exist without these cells.

Still following? That means that you need to sacrifice animals, which have cells, in order to have meat, right? Not necessarily. A company called Memphis Meats developed a way to create “clean meat” that doesn’t harm animals. Despite its name, the company is based out of Berkeley, CA.

Memphis Meats begins the process of creating its lab-grown meat by harvesting meat cells from livestock. The livestock isn’t killed in the process so consumers can feel good about what they’re eating. These cells are then fed nutrients so they can grow over a period of four to six weeks. Memphis Meats has compared the process to that of brewery, as opposed to a lab.

So how does lab-grown meat taste? Memphis Meats says “Most importantly, our meat is delicious! It's real meat, and life-long meat eaters immediately recognize it and enjoy it.” The company has already concocted meatballs, beef fajitas, as well as chicken and duck.

"It is thrilling to introduce the first chicken and duck that didn't require raising animals," Memphis Meats CEO Uma Valeti said. "This is a historic moment for the clean-meat movement.”

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