All PFN ARTICLES

In the UK, Marks & Spencer ( M&S) is under fresh scrutiny after a vigilante food waste watchdog posted a video on Instagram and TikTok showing wheelie bins of in-date, unsold food and flowers left behind an M&S store, everything from sliced meats and whole chickens to potatoes and bakery goods still days from expiry.

Beleaguered Beyond Meat is no longer just trying to fix dinner with its plant-based meat, it’s coming for your drink can. The company has launched Beyond Immerse, a sparkling functional beverage line full of plant protein, fibre, antioxidants and electrolytes, positioning it as a lighter alternative to heavy protein shakes. Three flavours, two protein tiers (10g and 20g), and a limited-run release via the Beyond Test Kitchen from January 15. On the surface, it looks like inno

High-protein bread isn’t new. But high-protein bread that actually behaves like bread? That’s a different story. US based, Protein Chef’s Double Protein Bread isn’t chasing macros with bolt-on protein powders, whether from animal dairy or even next-gen precision-fermented whey. It’s quietly rewriting the rules of baking itself: two regular slices delivering 12g of protein without the dense crumb, odd textures, or “functional food” aftertaste usually defining these sorts of pr

The new U.S. Dietary Guidelines just out have done something almost unthinkable in the post-2019 food wars as they’ve re-centred red meat, dairy, eggs, poultry and seafood as primary protein sources, while quietly sliding plant-based proteins further down the nutritional hierarchy. Not banned. Not dismissed. But no longer treated as nutritionally equivalent. That alone tells you something fundamental has shifted.

Fresh news shows US based, mycelium-based maker Meati Foods has had its property seized for nearly $7 million in unpaid taxes, illustrating just how severe the downturn has become in the proteins world. This follows the earlier winding down of Believer Meats and Meatable, both of which shuttered operations despite raising multi-millions because they couldn’t simultaneously crack cost, scale, and market adoption. In each case, promising technology met the harsh economics of f

According to researchers at the University of Utah, this species triggers Lilliputian (tiny people) hallucinations, in other words vivid visions of tiny human-like figures dancing, marching, and interacting with the environment. But what’s interesting is 96% of documented cases report identical imagery. No psilocybin. No ketamine-like dissociation. Just tiny people. Everywhere.

Juicy Marbles built its reputation on theatrical, whole-cut plant-based steaks, the kind designed to be carved, shared, and Instagrammed. Now the company is deliberately stepping down from the dinner-party pedestal and into everyday eating, launching its new Umami Burger across 225 UK Tesco stores.

FoodTech in 2026 isn’t about who has the wildest idea, it’s about who actually shows up in food people eat. After years of hype, pullbacks and painful reality checks, a new class of companies is quietly moving ahead by doing something radical - making workable ingredients, scale, and slot into everyday products without asking consumers to change their habits.

Kimchi has always been more than a side dish. For centuries it’s sat at the heart of Korean food culture, not as a “superfood”, not as wellness theatre, but as a daily, living eco-system of nourishment. Now, science has finally caught up. A new clinical study from South Korea’s World Institute of Kimchi reveals kimchi doesn’t just “boost” immunity, it fine-tunes it.

Food waste has officially entered its protein era. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have shown that fungal mycelium grown on carrot side streams doesn’t just tick sustainability boxes and it actually tastes better than conventional plant-based proteins when turned into vegan burgers and sausages.

Eggs are quietly becoming optional in South Island bakeries. Foodstuffs South Island, NZ is trialling Leaf Rubisco Protein as an egg replacement across more than 200 New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square stores, marking the first major retail test for the Canterbury-based ingredient maker Leaft Foods. Cakes, muffins and fresh bakery staples are the proving ground, exactly where eggs normally do the heavy lifting on structure, binding and lift.

Italy has spent centuries defending how food should be made and now it’s quietly experimenting with how food might be printed. In Abruzzo, researchers at ENEA’s EltHub are using 3D printing and lab-grown plant cells to create edible “inks” shaped into sliced foods and steak-like cuts. This isn’t novelty gastronomy, it’s applied food engineering, designed around texture, nutrition, and accessibility.