Fortune
Dec 6, 2021
Upside Foods CEO Uma Valeti on the vegan-friendly benefits of cultured meat

Fortune’s article “Can lab-based meat be vegan?” explores the rapidly evolving industry of cultured proteins and what implications it may have for those who choose a vegan diet. Using Upside Foods (IBSF02 2015) as an example, the article points out how the most common reasons for eating vegan—sustainability, reducing animal cruelty, conserving natural resources—will be called into question by the developing cultured meat economy.

About the inevitable debate, Upside Foods founder and CEO Dr. Uma Valeti says, “We can reduce logistics enormously because we don’t have feed [lots]. We don’t have a slaughterhouse. We don’t have the safety issues that come with having herds of animals intensely confined. But in order to get to scale, we need to have public-private partnerships and continued investment in the field. I have enormous optimism that this is an opportunity not to miss for any stakeholder who cares about impact food and economic opportunity.”