All PFN ARTICLES

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.

It’s finally here - CowFree milk and cheese, real dairy, zero cows. Israeli based, Strauss Group and Imagindairy have pulled off what was unthinkable a decade ago - supermarket-ready milk and cheese made by precision fermentation technology, not udders. Microbes like Aspergillus oryzae now crank out whey protein 100% nutritionally identical to the cow version.

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.

Malaysia Airlines has quietly rewritten a piece of its brand identity. The carrier’s signature satay skewers, a staple of its premium cabins, now come with a Lion’s Mane mushroom twist. Passengers flying Business Class and Business Suite on routes to Australia, New Zealand, and India can choose the plant-based satay alongside chicken, beef, and lamb, while other long-haul travellers can pre-order it in advance. Same marinade, same service ritual, just plant-based.

This South-Asian pioneer is charting a clear departure from Sri Lanka’s traditional commodity-centric exports. Instead, Miditer is leaning into tiered, value-added opportunities—transforming tropical raw material heritage into branded, certified organic, health-forward FMCG ready for global shelves. With certifications like USDA Organic, EU Organic, BRCGS, Kosher, and ISO 22000 backing its supply chain, Miditer is packaging provenance, sustainability, and functionality into a

They’re cool, clean, and coming in coconut-covered, brain-boosting, and ham-free. A handful of plant-based innovators are either exhibiting at or circling this year’s Fine Food Australia Expo in Sydney and they’re not just tagging along for the free samples.

US-based innovators like Wild Earth and Jiminy’s are using artificial intelligence to formulate plant-based dog food, tailored, traceable, and totally alt-protein. From plant-based blends to insect-derived kibble, the future of pet nutrition is being cooked up in a lab, not a slaughterhouse.

Contrary to clickbait claims and global meat industry 'spin' that Alt meat has collapsed, new market projections show the plant-based meat market is not just stable, it’s scaling.

Forget cautious targets, Lidl GB has blown past its 400% goal for plant-based sales with a staggering 694% surge since 2020. What’s driving it? Not just the meat-free burgers and sausages, but an appetite for whole-food staples like pulses, grains, tofu, and falafels that outperformed meat substitutes by nearly 20%.

Something unusual happened on UK's Ocado this August. Redefine Meat, the Israeli alt-meat brand built on chef-grade cred, surged +248% in searches week-on-week. That’s not just a blip in a vegan niche, that’s a mainstream summer signal. The reason? It was BBQ season in the UK, and shoppers wanted burgers and koftas looking, cooking, and searing like the real thing, but without the cow.

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.