All PFN ARTICLES

Anuga 2025 didn’t just fill the halls of Cologne this year, it rewrote the playbook for how food, politics, and innovation intersect. With over 145,000 visitors from 190 countries and 8,000+ exhibitors spanning every major food system on Earth, this year’s show became the de facto UN of flavour, science, and commerce. The numbers alone tell a story: a 3.6% rise in attendance, a 94% share of foreign exhibitors, and a pulse confirming food is still the most powerful common lan

September in the UK wasn’t just another month of “vegan bits and bobs”, it was a full-on showcase of how plant-based food is growing up. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons all rolled out fresh meat-free, dairy-free and hybrid health SKUs shouting accessibility and everyday appeal. From BOSH!’s eight-strong range of chilled meals and pizzas to Kyle Parchment’s Kulcher frozen ready-meals, the plant-based aisle suddenly looks like it belongs in every British kitchen.

As 2025 starts to draw to a close, the next wave of Future Food trends is already reshaping what we eat, how we make it, and how we feel about it. The newly released 2026 Trend Report confirms a deep convergence between food, data, and emotion, where AI is no longer a tool, but an ingredient. It’s the unseen chef in the kitchen, the curator of taste, and the quiet translator of human cravings into coded experience. The next course is coded.

Australia’s food future just got a shot of adrenaline. Startupbootcamp Australia has unveiled its latest Cluster Connect accelerator cohort and the line-up reads like a bio-food dream list. Mushrooms, cultivated meat, seaweed biotech, native plant supplements, all under the eye of the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources. It’s no longer just drones and packaging with the focus shifting squarely into biomanufacturing for food.

Japan’s sushi scene may be heading for a quiet revolution. As wild tuna stocks dwindle and prices soar, Mitsui DM Sugar is preparing to launch a plant-based tuna sashimi brand next year that undercuts the market cost of maguro. This isn’t just a vegan niche product — it’s a calculated strike at the heart of Japan’s seafood economy, where raw tuna is both cultural currency and a disappearing resource.

The Australian plant-protein sector is still alive and kicking and valued USD 338 million in 2024 and tipped to push nearly USD 600 million by 2033. The headlines sound good, but scratch the surface and you see what’s really going on: a solid, middle-of-the-road year-on-growth of 6.6% means the sector is maturing, not exploding.

When Europe’s biggest army base, Catterick Garrison in the UK (13,000 enlisted soldiers) puts Redefine Meat's bioprinted meat on the lunch menu, you know the rules of protein are changing.

' Singapore Food Outlet Closures' isn’t just a sad headline, it’s looking like a structural reset. As rents, wages and ingredient costs bite, closures have climbed to ~307 F&B outlets a month in 2025 (up from ~254 in 2024). That squeeze is pushing diners home and straight into supermarket chillers, convenience chains and delivery-friendly formats (RTE/RTH).

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.