Upside Foods Eyes Approval For Sale of New Shredded Chicken Products at US Restaurants by End 2025

Despite its legal battle against Florida’s leaders and an uncertain political landscape around alternative proteins, Upside Foods is looking to move forward.

While the Californian startup is cleared to sell its cultivated chicken fillet – containing 99% chicken cells – it stopped selling this at restaurants last year with the product is in relatively tight supply. Upside continues to sell the filet for bespoke events, in addition to using it for marketing and advocacy purposes.

What it is hoping to commercialise are its chicken shreds, which are produced differently and require separate authorisation from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company is hopeful that it can bring these to restaurants stateside by the end of 2025.

The shreds are made using suspension technology, instead of the tissue process used for the fillet. “Because the cells are grown in suspension, they don’t have anything to grip on. So after we harvest the cells, we are removing moisture – the suspension fluid – as much as we can,” says Melissa Musiker, head of communications at Upside Foods.