All PFN ARTICLES

Little Lato has done it again. For the second year running, the Auckland dairy-free gelato maker has scooped the Tetra Pak Dairy-Free Champion at the NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards, with its Mango Lassi Vegan Gelato.

Edinburgh-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) and Aberdeen’s Modutec signed a deal to build what they’re calling the world’s first “GigaFarm” in Dubai’s Food Tech Valley. The first 20 towers are shipping now, with a full build-out of 200 growth towers projected to crank out more than 3,000 tonnes of fresh produce a year. What's interesting is that volume replaces just one per cent of the UAE’s fruit and veg imports, a glimpse of how much reliance on overseas supply chain

Australia’s mushroom meat darling Fable Food Co. has scored another big win in the fast-casual space. Its smoky, rich pulled shiitake has just landed in Zambrero’s Signature Burrito, rolled out across nearly 300 restaurants nationwide. Paired with the chain’s limited-time Truffelo Sauce, the burrito is loaded with mushrooms, veggies, corn, pepitas, and serious flavour.

Shandi Global is no longer a kitchen experiment but a $30 million food-tech contender. Their chickpea, mung bean, soy, and pea-based proteins are already feeding schools, hospitals, and workplaces across Asia and beyond. Their mission? Nothing less than fixing global protein deficiency while making meatless burgers taste like the real deal.

Grill’d has signed a national partnership with Beyond to launch the Beyond Burger IV - the fourth-gen patty now boasting avocado oil, 20 grams of plant protein, and a clean label free of soy, gluten, and GMOs. For Beyond, whose share price has been battered globally, the deal is more than just another menu slot, it’s a potential lifeline. Grill'd has 173 burger outlets Australia wide.

Pistachio Papi, who just clocked the biggest week ever in Woolworths’ spreads aisle. Twenty thousand jars flew off shelves in seven days and that’s with constant out-of-stock gaps. Imagine the numbers if they’d actually managed to keep up with demand.

Oscar Mayer has just dropped the “EveryBun Pack,” a dual box set of old-school pork wieners and its Not Hot Dogs, plant-based cousins born out of the Kraft Heinz x NotCo partnership. No blending, no meat-plant mashups, just side-by-side dogs in one pack, each wrapped separately like awkward cousins at a Labor Day cookout.

Lidl GB has just moved the supermarket game up a notch. The UK discounter is rolling out a bold new Live Well logo across its private-label shelves, linking everyday groceries to the lofty goals of the Planetary Health Diet by 2050. Think beans, grains, fibre, plant protein and yes, fully recyclable packaging too.

There’s nothing parochial about this Kiwi product. Wellington’s Fix & Fogg has pulled off what most Kiwi food brands only ever dream of. Eight nut butters now line every Whole Foods shelf across the United States, the home of peanut butter itself.

In a move turning the pharma playbook on its head, the University of Windsor and Shogun Maitake Canada are literally giving away a mushroom-based cancer fighter that early lab tests suggest could help the immune system knock out cancer cells.

New Zealand’s latest migration settings are colliding with its food ambitions. Net migration has collapsed to just +13,700 (YE June 2025), while a 13-year-high 71,800 citizens packed up and left, most young, skilled, and irreplaceable. Those empty lab benches and processing plants aren’t abstract,

LILO Desserts is a case in point. Their Desserts for Everybody™ pipeline turns Central Otago cherries, New Zealand dairy, or plant-based formats into indulgent-yet-functional mousses and crumbles that tick every box - Halal, gluten-free, vegan, or protein-boosted. The secret? A co-creation model with global partners that pushes beyond cheesecake into a scalable “LILO Dessert Solutions System.” (LDSS)