All PFN ARTICLES

Greek yogurt giant Chobani has just acquired plant-based meal delivery brand Daily Harvest in a move that’s less about dairy and more about daypart domination. Industry whispers put the deal at around USD $600 million, a figure showing Chobani is serious about owning more than just your morning yogurt ritual.

Earlier this year, a Dubai chocolate sensation stuffed with pistachio, yes, that one, shot to fame on social media. Creamy, crunchy, and algorithmically perfect, Fix Dessert Chocolatier’s “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” racked up over tens of thousands TikTok views, inspired zillions of remakes, and turned pistachio-laced indulgence into a global craving.

New Zealand’s next-gen meat future just scored a power-up and this time, it’s women calling the shots. Auckland-based biotech startup Opo Bio, founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 honouree Olivia Ogilvie and University of Auckland scientist Laura Domigan, has secured funding from Epic Angels, Asia Pacific’s largest female-only angel investor collective.

A quick dash through Tesco’s UK's fresh aisle right now delivers more than the usual packet of spinach, it offered a glimpse of the supermarket’s newest weapon in the plant-based convenience war. Enter root & soul, a strikingly curated, own-brand range of prepped veg, tempura’d carrots, and grainy goodness aimed directly at Britain’s growing cohort of flexitarians.

The Forbes Asia 30 Under-30s list just dropped, and guess what? The future of food, fibre, and function has a Southern Hemisphere accent. New Zealand and Australia aren’t just keeping up, they’re quietly producing some of the most exciting young founders on the planet. Not influencers. Not crypto bros. Actual scientists. Actual biotech founders. Actual climate-smart inventors.

Enter Shake Your Plants - SYP, the surprisingly cool plant-based drink powder brand turning hydration into a functional, flavourful ritual. Started by two fed-up friends in Dubai, SYP is what happens when kombucha, herbal know-how, and next-gen sustainability have a very dry, very hot baby.

It’s the kind of supermarket sighting that should spark chaos in the vegan snack aisles. A plant-based Nutella? With oat and almond milk instead of dairy? Surely that’s the moment the palm-oily, sugar-slicked classic finally catches up to the alt-dairy revolution. Right?

In a gut-churning replay of the Chilean cherry catastrophe that saw tonnes of fresh fruit left to rot thanks to Maersk’s China-bound logistics fumble, this week it’s bananas under the boot—900,000 boxes of them, to be exact, rotting in Panama’s sweltering Bocas del Toro heat. Why? A local workers’ strike over social security reforms has brought the region’s biggest export lifeline to a screeching halt.

Bean Supreme, one of New Zealand’s longest-standing plant-based pioneers, has officially thrown in the (soy-based) towel. Owner, Life Health Foods has confirmed production is winding down and the brand’s burgers, bangers and beloved mince will disappear from supermarket shelves by July.

In a curious twist of weather changes meets cuisine, HelloFresh has teamed up with Oxford’s Dr Joseph Poore and trend forecaster Dr Morgaine Gaye to dish up a glimpse into your 2050 dinner plate and it’s not what your nana would recognise. Think soy sprouting in Scotland, edible fashion accessories, and AI-powered recipes designed to save your gut and the planet.

What if New Zealand could out-milk the cow without a single udder in sight? That’s the promise Daisy Lab's just dropped, successfully pumping out multiple grams per litre of bioidentical bovine lactoferrin using nothing but yeast and a bit of fermentation finesse.

There’s an uncomfortable smell in the produce aisle and it’s not from the shiitakes. As headlines around Australia continue to orbit the 'Beef Wellington' mushroom murder trial of Erin Patterson (shown left in custody- ABC Australia) , mushroom growers are facing a very different kind of toxic fallout in the form of public distrust.