All PFN ARTICLES

New Zealand’s vertical farm outfit 26 Seasons just inked a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Qassim Strawberry & Fruit Cooperative Society, swapping know-how and strawberries in equal measure. It’s not just about berries – it’s a signal that New Zealand’s premium food tech is sliding quietly into the Gulf’s Vision 2030 supermarket basket.

Whitworths has just dropped the UK’s first unprocessed walnut-based meat-free mince, and it’s a quiet challenge to the fake-meat aisle. Forget long ingredient lists and over-engineered soy bricks, this mince is just walnuts, lentils, and quinoa, spun into a texture that actually chews like beef. At £3.20 a pack, it’s aimed squarely at shoppers tired of the ultra-processed plant-based tag.

Plant proteins aren’t just a fringe choice anymore, they’re quietly embedding themselves in the weekly menus of ordinary Australian households. Fascin8foods’ mushroom-based FROOM™ has landed in Delidoor’s plant-based frozen meal range, now reaching families, professionals, and seniors who rely on the brand’s 12,000 weekly deliveries.

Remember when McDonalds quietly shelved its McPlant ambitions? Well McDonalds Canada has gone against the memo from head-office. The McVeggie is now going nationwide, slotting a Beyond (Meat ) plant patty into the most mainstream of menus. For a chain still printing cash off Big Macs, this is a consumer signal showing plant-based has staying power, even in the most conservative QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) arena.

The world’s biggest food fair just got a plant-and-cell facelift. Anuga’s 2025 edition in Cologne is giving prime floor space to a new 'Anuga Alternatives' hall and it’s not short of headliners. Beyond Meat and Oatly are on the list, but so too are tofu makers like Omami, algae caviar producers like Jens Møller, mycelium innovators like Pacifico Biolabs, sunflower protein players, and egg-free specialists Neggst.

United States meat alternatives market — still growing on the big picture, but messy up close. DataM pegs the global meat alternatives market at US$9.6bn (2022) with a path to ~US$20.8bn by 2031 (Year on Year Growth~10.2%). That tailwind matters for the U.S., where brands are quietly reshaping ranges even as retailers trim slow movers.

Forget just ready-meals and curry kits, Indian meal-building kit's secret power is in accompaniments. Think naan, paratha, rotis, samosas, pakoras, chutneys, pickles and raita bases. These aren’t full meals, but they’re the missing links that make a plate feel whole.

THIS has just lobbed three fresh plant-based products into UK supermarkets, but it’s the pastrami deli slice catching eyes. Forget anaemic slices of soy, this is smoky, chewy, and aimed squarely at the deli shelf where tradition still rules.

Italy’s Gruppo Tonazzo, after 136 years in meat, has gone all-in on plants. The family company closed its butchery operations at the end of 2024 and handed the reins to its Kioene plant-based brand, which has been around since the late 1980s. What was once a sideline has now become the centrepiece with attractive packs of mini burgers made from pumpkin, carrots, eggplant, spinach and kale are carried in Carrefour Italy and millions of households nationwide.

Jamie Oliver is back on the Sub-Continent, dipping into India's street food and veg traditions as part of his Ultimate Veg series. The clips are light, colourful, and unapologetically plant-forward - a absolute reminder that India’s culinary heritage has been carrying the veg flag long before it became a Western health trend.

Christmas has officially jumped the queue as Waitrose in the UK unwraps its festive range a full four months early, and it’s not the turkey grabbing the spotlight. Instead, the UK grocer is making noise with plant-based centrepieces looking and feeling like the real stars of the table.

The global ashwagandha market is flexing hard. Valued at USD 0.76 billion in 2025, it’s set to crack the USD 1 billion mark by 2030, tracking a solid 9.2% CAGR. Growth is fuelled by stress-fatigued consumers snapping up gummies, chews, and clean-label supplements; sports users chasing performance recovery blends; and beauty brands pulling ashwagandha into skincare for its antioxidant and anti-aging profile. North America dominates demand, but Asia-Pacific is sprinting ahead,