All PFN ARTICLES

Circana’s June report confirms what supermarket aisles have been quietly whispering for months and this is emotional eating is having a very public moment. Sales of products offering mental wellness benefits are holding strong, despite belt-tightening elsewhere in the basket. While shoppers are trading down on pantry basics, they’re deliberately trading up on food feeding the mind. And mood foods are leading the way.

Developed by São Paulo’s food-tech boffins at UNICAMP and ITAL, with help from Germany’s Fraunhofer IVV Institute, the new ‘vegan meat’ is based on sunflower flour, the stuff left behind after extracting oil from sunflower seeds. Think of it as culinary upcycling with some pretty smart tweaks.

Britain’s Generation Z (16–30 years) are emerging as early adopters of cultured meat, marking a significant milestone for cellular agriculture. A new Ipsos Observer UK poll of 1,098 adults reveals 47% of Gen Z Brits would be willing to eat cultivated meat. That’s nearly half of young consumers open to ditching meat derived from living animals for something brewed in a bioreactor.

Enter Beleaf. The Californian plant-based outfit just dropped a game changer: allergen-free Plant-Based Shrimp and it doesn’t just mimic the real thing, it does it without a trace of crustacean, contamination risk, or cleanup hassle.

Kiwi start-up. Little Pips Soda Syrups, a boutique beverage company founded by Pip Malpas, has celebrated a major milestone with its inaugural large-scale production run at the New Zealand Food Innovation Network (NZFIN).

From next week, every Swiss steak, sausage, litre of milk or carton of eggs must reveal if the animal was castrated, dehorned, beak-trimmed, tail-docked or otherwise “worked on” without anaesthetic – a move the Swiss says will drag hidden suffering “out of the shadows and onto the shelf”. Imported products aren’t spared - exporters shipping into Zurich or Geneva will have to print the same bad news 'Pain Notice' on the pack.

Epic Kiwi Cheese, a bold plant-based upstart crafted smack bang in the middle of dairy country. Made in Hamilton, New Zealand, this new range isn’t just daring to exist, it’s thriving, and it’s heading to the Waikato Food Show on July 5–6 with a mission to win hearts, melt toasties, and reclaim the Cheese Hall, one dairy-free wedge at a time.

Australia’s cult chilli oil brand UmamiPapi has officially hit shelves in Malaysia’s retail giant AEON, and for Ethan, it’s not just a business move, it’s a spicy homecoming. The founder and CEO, who grew up on Chinese-Malaysian flavours, called the moment “surreal” as he wandered through AEON and spotted his own creation among the aisles.

A world-first circular bioprocessing system developed by Powered by Plants (PbP) and backed by the New Zealand Food Innovation Network (NZFIN) is upcycling the ugly underbelly of our horticulture sector, think discarded onions, surplus carrots, bruised blueberries, into high-value powders, extracts, and concentrates for the food, nutraceutical, and supplement industries.

Mark your calendars, future foodies. On 14 October, the Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney will become the unofficial HQ for bold moves, big questions, and even bigger protein ambitions as AltProteins 25 swings into town.

In a country that once worshipped the bacon butty, the New Zealand alt-meat awards has delivered the once unthinkable - a plant-based bacon has taken the crown. That’s right - Let Them Eat Vegan’s ‘Not Bacon’ has been named Supreme Winner at this year’s Vegan Sausage and Deli Meats Awards, leaving sausages, patties, and even pastrami in its crispy, umami-drenched dust.

A now-viral LinkedIn thread by former Alibaba ANZ boss Pier Smulders summed up the mood - ‘grubby, transactional, and embarrassingly one-sided’. While PM Christopher Luxon was busy snapping selfies and talking up “hundreds of millions” in dairy and education deals, innovation leaders back home were asking a simple question - where the hell were our FoodTech companies in the China trade dialogue?