All PFN ARTICLES

The Mexican avocado industry has smashed a new Guinness World Record after producers in Tancítaro, Michoacán created the world’s largest bowl of guacamole bowl, weighing in at 6.8 metric tonnes and whipped up over just two and a half hours. More than 1,000 growers and community members participated in the spectacle during the 13th annual Avocado Festival, turning what could have been a quirky publicity stunt into something much bigger - a reminder Mexico remains the undispute

Iran’s pistachio industry is quietly demonstrating something the global food system rarely talks about openly anymore: trade routes bend long before they break. While conflict, sanctions, shipping disruption and regional instability continue to pressure Iran’s export economy, pistachio exporters like DARRA Pistachios are still moving product into Europe via Türkiye’s Mersin corridor, relabeling documentation and rerouting logistics to keep supply chains alive. That may sound

In the aftermath of SIAL Shanghai 2026 this week, one thing is becoming unmistakably clear: Asia’s next food economy is not being built around hype, it is being built around functionality, affordability, portability and industrial scale. Across the exhibition halls, the strongest signals were not celebrity veganism or futuristic lab theatrics. Instead, brands showcased high-protein beverages, shelf-stable nutrition, AI-assisted ingredient systems, functional snacks, low-GI

The narrative that plant-based meat is “dead” keeps colliding with one awkward problem: consumers still want meat-like experiences without necessarily wanting more animals, more emissions, more industrial farming or belonging to a movement. Here comes Steakholder Foods with PERFECTA, a new U.S.-bound range of 3D-printed plant-based steaks, chicken breasts, salmon patties, white fish patties and filet mignon-style cuts looking uncannily close to the real thing.

The plant-based seafood sector may have just crossed a line from “interesting startup category” into something much bigger. Oshi, the company behind the first whole-cut 100% plant-based salmon fillet in the U.S. market, has secured a US$3 million strategic investment from one of Latin America’s largest traditional seafood manufacturers. That’s not just funding. That’s the old seafood economy quietly acknowledging the future may not look like trawlers forever.

China’s food strategy should be setting off alarms across New Zealand and Australia. Beijing is not merely trying to feed its population anymore, it is building a vertically integrated protein factory system spanning genetics, fermentation, synthetic biology, AI-led agriculture, ingredient processing and export manufacturing. Yet ANZ still largely behaves like a commodity frontier economy: grow it, ship it, hope the market stays loyal.

Winter in New Zealand doesn’t just mean gumboots, soup and shorter days anymore. It also means the return of one of the country’s most quietly luxurious food sectors - black truffles. North Canterbury producer Kings Truffles has confirmed harvesting will begin in early June across its Waipara Basin and Claremont Station blocks, signalling the official arrival of New Zealand truffles for 2026.

The cultivated meat race has officially gone to the dogs. Italian petfood company FORZA10 has launched “Coolty Meat”, a complete dog food containing 26% cultivated meat supplied by Czech biotech company Bene Meat Technologies, unveiled this week at the global pet industry expo Interzoo 2026. The companies are calling it the world’s first commercially launched complete cultivated meat dog food, positioning the product as hypoallergenic, cruelty-free and planet-friendly.

Canned fruit is having a very unromantic moment. In California, Del Monte’s bankruptcy and cannery closures have left peach growers stranded, with USDA approving up to US$9 million to help remove trees after around 74,000 tonnes of cling fruit were left unsold. Pacific Coast Producers has picked up some volume, but roughly 50,000 tonnes still lacks a buyer.

Heineken has just nudged beer into strange new territory: the gym bag. Its UK launch of Outd00r Brewing is a 0.0% alcohol-free lager range with electrolytes, vitamin C and magnesium, positioned as an “isotonic 0.0 lager” for the post-run, post-ride, post-padel, post-whatever crowd. In other words, beer is no longer just trying to be booze-free. This functional beer now wants to be useful.

China’s blueberry market has gone weirdly two-speed. Ordinary blueberries are being pushed into bargain-bin territory, with some local prices reportedly as low as “10 yuan for two boxes”, while viral pink blueberries are being hyped at up to 400 yuan per jin, roughly US$120 per kilogram. That is not a fruit category, that's a social media costume change.

Greenland is back in the headlines, not for geopolitics or melting ice, but for something far more practical: food. In the Arctic town of Sisimiut, population roughly 6,000, a local hydroponic farm is proving lettuce, not logistics, might be the real sovereignty issue. As imported produce arrives soggy, bruised, and eye-wateringly expensive, locally grown crunchy greens are quietly winning shelf space.