All PFN ARTICLES

Consumers might not care about CRISPR Mycoprotein, Fusarium venenatum, or metabolic engineering, but they absolutely care about food that’s cheaper, cleaner, and doesn’t taste like damp cardboard. That’s why this new “super-mycoprotein” - breakthrough matters. Researchers have taken the fungus behind mainstream mycoprotein (think Quorn) and hacked it to grow 88% faster, using 44% less sugar, and slashing emissions by up to 60%.

Korean Temple Food isn’t just having a moment, it’s quietly reshaping the global conversation around how we eat. What used to look like monk-led minimalism is now the kind of plant-based clarity younger consumers crave: seasonal ingredients, zero pretence, and flavours not relying on the industrial food matrix. The irony? While everyone else chases “clean label,” Korean monasteries were already serving it centuries ago.

Global plant-based yogurt is quietly climbing at a 9.2% annual growth, driven by gut-health hype, dairy fatigue, and the rise of “clean comfort foods” that look and behave like the real thing without the lactose hangover. And while oat and almond yogurts are having their moment, it’s coconut yogurt that keeps showing up in shopping baskets because consumers trust the texture, thick, creamy, reliable.

“Top Food Trends for 2026 – Protein Reigns” still holds, but the protein story now lives inside a bigger behavioural shift where people want options that fit their day, fit their wallet, and fit their mental bandwidth. Single-serve meals, snack-ready bites, and genuinely useful plant-forward proteins are now the scaffolding of everyday eating.

Air India just pulled a move most airlines keep avoiding. by making plant-based the norm, not novel. Forget the token vegan meal baked in 1992, this is a full cabin rollout of vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly and low-oil dishes designed to feel like real food rather than “special meal” purgatory. Khichdi, stuffed paranthas, curated veg mains, it’s the first time an old-school flag carrier has presented plant-based eating as part of modern Indian aviation rather than a fr

Let’s call it like it is, when almost 21,000 Dutch consumers were asked whether terms like vegaworst or veganburger were confusing, a thumping 96% knew exactly what they meant. That alone pulls the rug out from under claims EU shoppers can’t tell a plant-based sausage from an animal one. The data couldn’t be clearer, consumers aren’t confused, regulators are.

Strap in: the European Space Agency (ESA) has just signed a deal with Finnish startup Solar Foods to test a protein powder made from microbes, air, electricity and urea (yes, that urea, found in urine) aboard the International Space Station; giving a whole new meaning to pee protein!!

Veggie tea drinks have moved from niche novelty to legitimate new category, led by brands like Millie’s Sipping Broth in the US, essentially broth in a tea bag and GOBBi, which positions itself as a savoury “energy tea” with tomato, mushroom and miso profiles. Add in the OGs like Numi’s early “Savory Tea” lineup, plus celery-ginger and herbal-vegetable hybrids across Asia, and the signal is clear: warm, vegetable-forward teas are becoming a recognised hot-drink ritual.

Alejandro Cancino (ex Fenn Foods and The Aussie Plant-Based Co) has always been one of the few operators who shaped its rise with real integrity. While others chased supermarket space at any cost, he obsessed over renewable energy, responsible packaging, and carbon-neutral production, often putting principle ahead of profit. Now, after stepping back and spending time in Indonesia, he’s returned with something feeling far closer to his food philosophy: Murni, and a clean, shel

Plant-based egg innovator, Crafty Counter’s new Protein Buns are the kind of functional convenience foods consumers are absolutely primed for - soft, gluten-free, microwave-ready, and stuffed with a hemp-based “egg” scramble packing 40% more protein per gram than a real egg. In a protein-obsessed food economy, this is the kind of micro-innovation that creates its own demand curve.

The food-innovation world is buzzing with hybrid meat products, blends of animal and plant proteins being touted as the “bridge” for flexitarian consumers. But when US based, The Mushroom Meat Co. co‐founder & CEO Kesha Stickland writes “ALL MUSHROOM, NO BEEF – WHY WE DON’T BLEND,” she makes a strong case for going full fungi. Her startup is committed to 80 % mushrooms + ~20 % whole plants (hempseed, seaweed, beets), consciously not blending in animal meat or hybridising wit

The arrival of a bioprinted meat product into the spotlight of a major industry awards show signals a turning point, as Redefine Meat’s 3-D-printed Flank Steak takes out the Plant-Based Meat Alternatives champion title in the UK's The Grocer’s New Product & Packaging Awards 2025. But it isn't just a trophy, it's recognition from the heart of the UK food trade.