All PFN ARTICLES

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.

Forget kale chips, Israel’s Brevel wants you crunching on microalgae pasta and crackers. Using illuminated fermentation (think: high-tech photosynthesis in a tank), Brevel has cracked the code on turning algae into something you can actually eat without holding your nose. The result? Protein-rich tagliatelle looking like it belongs in a boutique pasta bar and dark, nutrient-packed crackers screaming “future snack aisle.”

Pasture grown crops like Barley may soon jump from stockfeed and beer kegs into your latte glass. Scientists at Plant & Food Research are turning hull-less barley into smooth, creamy dairy alternatives - milks today, yoghurts tomorrow, with a nutty, fibre-rich profile speaking directly to oat-milk drinkers hunting for something new.

Apple waste might just be the new secret sauce in meat hybrids. A Cornell study shows the pomace, the skins, seeds, cores and pulp left over from juicing, can be freeze-dried, milled, and blended into beef meatballs at up to 20% without consumers noticing a thing. The result? A fibre boost, longer shelf-life, and a lower reliance on animal protein, all in a format tasting and feeling the same.

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.

Half a century on, Sydney, Australia's Flemington Markets are still the beating heart of fruit, veg, and flowers for NSW and the ACT. What began in 1975 with nervous tenants staring at empty stalls has become a 2.5 million-tonne food distribution powerhouse servicing millions across metropolitan Australia.

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.

The Pure Food Co is quietly reshaping aged-care nutrition in New Zealand and Australia — and now its available at home. The company has gone beyond hospitals and rest homes, launching a home-delivery partnership with EAT that’s already winning praise from families.

Europe is putting farmers at the centre of the cultivated meat revolution. The CRAFT Consortium, a coalition of Wageningen University, Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Multus, Kipster, Royal Kuijpers, and RespectFarms, has begun designing the world’s first cultivated meat farm, backed by €2 million in EIT Food funding. The model promises to slash water use by 78%, land by 95%, and social costs by 56%, while giving farmers a direct stake in cellular agriculture.

Cacao and coffee, two of the planet’s most loved crops, are buckling under pressure. Cocoa prices have smashed past $10,000 a tonne, while weather stress is pushing Arabica uphill. Enter the bean-free brigade: innovators who promise the same taste experience, minus the deforestation, price shocks, and labour exploitation.

South Australia has just made sushi history and not for what’s on the plate. As of now, those tiny plastic soy sauce fish, the ones that spill sticky umami soy sauce over every food court bento, are officially banned across the state. It’s a world first, and the move affects more than 1.8 million people.

Edinburgh-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) and Aberdeen’s Modutec signed a deal to build what they’re calling the world’s first “GigaFarm” in Dubai’s Food Tech Valley. The first 20 towers are shipping now, with a full build-out of 200 growth towers projected to crank out more than 3,000 tonnes of fresh produce a year. What's interesting is that volume replaces just one per cent of the UAE’s fruit and veg imports, a glimpse of how much reliance on overseas supply chain