All PFN ARTICLES

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)

Oaty Butter wins New World Emerge - oat butter goes functional, supermarket-ready. Oaty Butter just snagged New World Emerge’s Start-Up crown with an oat-based, prebiotic-fortified spread that says “goodbye flimsy marg, hello breakfast upgrade.”

Alastair Hawken, founder of Hawkens Gingerbread in Grantham, has pioneered the UK’s first commercial grown ginger cultivation using hydroponic polytunnels. Inspired during Nottingham Trent University’s Help to Grow: Management Course, Alastair conceived a soil‑free flood‑and‑drain system to enable ginger production under controlled tropical conditions (25–30 °C and ~85% humidity), countering the UK's unsuitable climate for the crop

From now on, PlanetFood.News isn’t just reporting news, it’s delivering trend intelligence with an opinion, powered by our sister platform TRENOS.ai. Every PFN story will now run in two layers:

In a move that could become a blueprint for surviving New Zealand’s tightening plant-based market, Grater Goods has officially taken Green Dinner Table under its wing. The two Christchurch-born pioneers have been running parallel tracks for years - Grater Goods with its artisan plant-based deli and products, Green Dinner Table with its chef-designed weekly meal boxes.

I know some folk who swear by a Bloody Mary at 30,000 feet, a little salty, a little spicy, a whole lot of altitude-induced alchemy. But this? This takes the tomato trend to cruising altitude and then parachutes into the realm of absurdity. Introducing the Heinz Tomato Ketchup Smoothie.

Something fishy and frankly fabulous, is happening in the plant-based protein world. Just weeks after selling out its first alternative fish product in under an hour, Slovenian whole-cut disruptor Juicy Marbles has dropped its next act in the form of Kinda Salmon, a thick, unbreaded filet of fungi plant-based salmon goodness aiming to do for fish what its marbled steaks did for beef.

In a move blending science, Brussels bureaucracy, and digestive relief, the European Commission has officially approved a health claim that may give green kiwifruit a new lease on life, not just as a tangy fruit salad staple, but as a certified gut-friendly food.

What happens when a humble family recipe gets its big break on the world stage? In SHICKEN Spice Babies case, it wins, again. The UK-based plant-based brand has just landed another Great Taste Award, this time for its now-iconic Seekh Kebabs, hailed by the Guild of Fine Food as one of the standout flavours of 2025. That’s three years, three awards, and one very proud kitchen.