All PFN ARTICLES

Most alternative proteins still want you to believe you're biting into a cow. But let’s be honest: consumers are tired of being fooled, and food developers are tired of wrestling with products that fall apart in a frying pan. Enter Maia Farms, a Canadian biotech outfit serving up function over fiction with a next-gen APT (A Protein Thing) not needing to pretend.

The UK just hit launch on one of the boldest moves in plant-based yet - Meat-Free Made Easy. With over 40 brands on board, from Beyond Meat to Compass Group, the campaign aims to shift everyday eating habits through simple swaps, practical messaging, and collective muscle. Now, Australia and New Zealand might be next.

New Zealand’s next-gen meat future just scored a power-up and this time, it’s women calling the shots. Auckland-based biotech startup Opo Bio, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 honouree Olivia Ogilvie and University of Auckland scientist Laura Domigan, has secured funding from Epic Angels, Asia Pacific’s largest female-only angel investor collective.

Here’s a sentence we haven’t said in years: New Zealand just made a smart, future-focused science move. And it could actually pay off with huge bioeconomy returns.

What if New Zealand could out-milk the cow without a single udder in sight? That’s the promise Daisy Lab's just dropped, successfully pumping out multiple grams per litre of bioidentical bovine lactoferrin using nothing but yeast and a bit of fermentation finesse.

Fonterra, New Zealand’s dairy colossus and global cream-of-the-crop exporter, has just made its most serious move yet into the future of milk, without the cow. Its startup investment Vivici, a precision fermentation outfit co-founded with Dutch dsm-firmenich, has launched into the US market, bringing with it a cow-free version of whey protein looking, functioning, and tasting just like the original - except it’s brewed.

Did you know that the humble shawarma, the Middle East’s undisputed king of street food, is getting a plant-based makeover in Dubai? No, this isn’t some hipster café gimmick. It’s coming from Malak Al Tawouk, one of the region’s most beloved Lebanese fast food chains, in collaboration with local plant-based disruptors Switch Foods.

Off-Piste Provisions, one of New Zealand’s most daring plant-based ventures, has announced it’s pulling its signature meat-free jerky from s

If you think India’s future food scene is all about lab coats and Silicon Valley suits, think again.The next big biryani, the next luscious kebab, the next cheesy naan might be made with zero cows, zero chickens, and zero guilt and it’s all happening in kitchens and labs you’ve probably never heard of. This isn’t just about trendy food swaps or eco-virtue signalling. It’s about survival.

Melbourne’s vegan food scene in 2025? It’s not a trend. It’s the table. As more diners ditch the steak and chase the umami high of truffle, tamale, and woodfired cauliflower, a handful of iconic plant food restaurants are shaping the city’s culinary DNA, one daring, dairy-free dish at a time.

On October 7, 2024, the world watched in horror as Israel's Kibbutz Be’eri came under senseless attack. Lives lost. Hostages held. Families shattered. And for the team behind one of Israel’s quiet agricultural marvels - Hinoman’s Mankai - everything they’d built was left in ruins. The greenhouses once housing one of the world’s most efficient crops were torched. Gone in hours.

New data from the Good Food Institute (GFI) reveals a sobering truth that most people who try plant-based meat don’t stick with it. But that’s not the real story. Look closer and you’ll see the shift away from mimicry, away from bleeding patties - toward something more interesting - plant-based protein products not pretending to be meat at all.