A method for extracting water-soluble undenatured type II collagen having an active epitope comprises a first step for extracting animal-derived cartilage using an acidic solution at 50°C or less, and a second step for adding pepsin to the acidic solution and performing extraction at 40°C or less. This allows the epitope of undenatured type II collagen to be extracted in large quantities and with high efficiency without any loss of activity, and makes it possible to provide a food or beverage product obtained using the water-soluble undenatured type II collagen extracted by the extraction method.
