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Japanese food-tech outfit Sankyo Foods is launching a microwavable “GABA-Rice” range under its retail arm Food Base, tapping into the rising wave of mental-wellness functional foods. Each serving contains around 100 mg of the neurotransmitter-precursor GABA via germinated brown rice blends enriched with traditional Japanese grains and beans, comfortingly familiar rice with added wellness appeal.

In a world of weather shocks and geopolitical tension, Cellular Agriculture Australia has thrown down the gauntlet — food isn’t just sustenance, it’s national security. Their new white paper “Made & Grown: The Future of Food Biotechnology & Biomanufacturing in Australia” argues that investing in biomanufacturing is no longer optional; it’s a sovereign imperative.

If every Aussie and Kiwi ate just one extra 100 g serve of fruit and veggies a day, the ripple would be enormous. AUSVEG says, an extra handful translates to almost a million tonnes of produce, $3.3 billion in added value to the vegetable supply chain, 13,000 new jobs, and $1.4 billion in healthcare savings by 2030. In New Zealand, similar modelling suggests NZ$838 million in lifetime health savings and 94,000 healthy life years gained from just a modest daily veg boost.

Global food manufacturers and retailers are leaving money on the table in plant-based proteins, slowing category growth and exposing supply chains to avoidable risk, according to a new investor-backed analysis. The report finds most big players still treat plant-based as a side aisle, not a profit engine, which weakens resilience by over-relying on animal protein.

Ferrero is quietly reshaping the global nut map. The Italian confectionery giant, famous for Nutella and Kinder, has been planting thousands of hectares of hazelnut orchards across Chile’s Maule and Ñuble regions to guarantee supply for its spreads and chocolates. The South American orchards now complement Ferrero’s holdings in Italy, Turkey and the U.S., offering counter-seasonal harvests and greater climate security.

China’s next Five-Year Plan is shaping up less like an agricultural roadmap and more like a national tech manifesto and foodtech is suddenly in the mix. Beijing’s leadership has tied biomanufacturing to its industrial self-reliance strategy, signalling proteins, enzymes, and precision-fermented ingredients now belong alongside semiconductors and EV batteries in the country’s quest for technological sovereignty.

Kiwi, Leaft Foods has taken its green-tech know-how beyond the human plate and straight into the pet bowl. The Rolleston-based startup, best known for pioneering Rubisco extraction for human nutrition, has now applied its leaf-protein technology to create Alfalfa Protein Concentrate (APC), a nutrient-dense ingredient designed specifically for pet food.

Forget kale chips and charcoal lattes, 2026 is about gut health, protein, and stress relief-the holy trinity of food predictions.

..innovators Heliograf and Vert Design Studio have created the world’s first plastic-free, home-compostable soy sauce dropper, made entirely from renewable plant pulp. It breaks down in weeks, not centuries, leaving no microplastics behind. Holy Carp !! It's the new soy sauce fish.

Across Australia and New Zealand, the next wave of food innovation isn’t coming from flashy lab-grown meats or AI-driven drinks, it’s bubbling up from humble roots: garlic bulbs, chicory beans, and kiwifruit - a wellness boom.

Arepa New Zealand has taken a world-first step from blackcurrant to brain performance. In partnership with Plant & Food Research and Callaghan Innovation, (now under the BioEconomy Science Institute umbrella), scientists have identified sarmentosin, a naturally occurring MAO-B inhibitor found in New Zealand blackcurrants. The compound helps protect dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to mood, motivation, and mental clarity, marking a scientific and commercial breakthroug

Australian deep-tech player Nourish Ingredients has quietly shifted gears from startup to global operator, establishing a new commercial hub in Leiden, the Netherlands, the same energy-neutral “BioPartner 5” campus housing Europe’s biggest biotech disruptors. Best known for its Tastilux and Creamilux fats, precision-fermented lipids that mimic the sensory and aromatic profiles of animal fats, Nourish is now positioning itself at the centre of the EU food-innovation ecosyste