All PFN ARTICLES

Next-gen proteins are shifting from hype to habit. Mintel’s 2026 outlook says consumers are moving beyond “maxxing” single macros to diverse, functional diets - think fungi, microalgae, mung bean and hemp - folded into everyday eating alongside fibre-as-armour and microbiome-friendly formats. In short, protein and fibre go mainstream, variety becomes the new virtue, and APAC’s naturally fibre-rich cuisines start teaching the West a few tricks.

Anuga 2025 didn’t just fill the halls of Cologne this year, it rewrote the playbook for how food, politics, and innovation intersect. With over 145,000 visitors from 190 countries and 8,000+ exhibitors spanning every major food system on Earth, this year’s show became the de facto UN of flavour, science, and commerce. The numbers alone tell a story: a 3.6% rise in attendance, a 94% share of foreign exhibitors, and a pulse confirming food is still the most powerful common lan

As 2025 starts to draw to a close, the next wave of Future Food trends is already reshaping what we eat, how we make it, and how we feel about it. The newly released 2026 Trend Report confirms a deep convergence between food, data, and emotion, where AI is no longer a tool, but an ingredient. It’s the unseen chef in the kitchen, the curator of taste, and the quiet translator of human cravings into coded experience. The next course is coded.

After a quarter century of gruesome experimentation, New Zealand’s last genetically engineered - GE animal trials have come to an end. The Soil & Health Association and GE Free NZ say the closure of AgResearch’s Ruakura facility marks the end of an era defined by animal suffering, failed science, and ethical neglect. Their meta-report reveals that from 2000 to 2024, hundreds of cows, goats, and sheep were subjected to GE and gene-editing trials that produced no commercial ben

New Zealand has dropped $42 million into a brand-new Biodiscovery Platform, with the goal of turning native biodiversity into export-ready pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and functional foods. Announced by Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti, the seven-year investment will fund the newly formed Bioeconomy Science Institute, which aims to translate cutting-edge R&D into products that actually make it to market.

Australia’s food future just got a shot of adrenaline. Startupbootcamp Australia has unveiled its latest Cluster Connect accelerator cohort and the line-up reads like a bio-food dream list. Mushrooms, cultivated meat, seaweed biotech, native plant supplements, all under the eye of the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources. It’s no longer just drones and packaging with the focus shifting squarely into biomanufacturing for food.

Swees Plant Based Foods, the Thai maker of the country’s first vegan cheese, has rolled out a new line called CleanBean. Think Beev Steaklets and Chick*n Bites, designed to fry, grill, or simmer in a green curry without a label full of additives.

Amazing to think a whey product can come not from a cow, but from water. New Zealand’s Nutrition from Water (NXW) has just unveiled Marine Whey™ Golden 35, a protein concentrate clocking in at 35% and designed for bakery, nutrition, and dairy-alt applications. Whats amazing is it’s grown from microscopic aquatic organisms, not milk.

Forget kale chips, Israel’s Brevel wants you crunching on microalgae pasta and crackers. Using illuminated fermentation (think: high-tech photosynthesis in a tank), Brevel has cracked the code on turning algae into something you can actually eat without holding your nose. The result? Protein-rich tagliatelle looking like it belongs in a boutique pasta bar and dark, nutrient-packed crackers screaming “future snack aisle.”

Pasture grown crops like Barley may soon jump from stockfeed and beer kegs into your latte glass. Scientists at Plant & Food Research are turning hull-less barley into smooth, creamy dairy alternatives - milks today, yoghurts tomorrow, with a nutty, fibre-rich profile speaking directly to oat-milk drinkers hunting for something new.

Whitworths has just dropped the UK’s first unprocessed walnut-based meat-free mince, and it’s a quiet challenge to the fake-meat aisle. Forget long ingredient lists and over-engineered soy bricks, this mince is just walnuts, lentils, and quinoa, spun into a texture that actually chews like beef. At £3.20 a pack, it’s aimed squarely at shoppers tired of the ultra-processed plant-based tag.

Plant proteins aren’t just a fringe choice anymore, they’re quietly embedding themselves in the weekly menus of ordinary Australian households. Fascin8foods’ mushroom-based FROOM™ has landed in Delidoor’s plant-based frozen meal range, now reaching families, professionals, and seniors who rely on the brand’s 12,000 weekly deliveries.