All PFN ARTICLES

From now on, PlanetFood.News isn’t just reporting news, it’s delivering trend intelligence with an opinion, powered by our sister platform TRENOS.ai. Every PFN story will now run in two layers:

In a move that could become a blueprint for surviving New Zealand’s tightening plant-based market, Grater Goods has officially taken Green Dinner Table under its wing. The two Christchurch-born pioneers have been running parallel tracks for years - Grater Goods with its artisan plant-based deli and products, Green Dinner Table with its chef-designed weekly meal boxes.

I know some folk who swear by a Bloody Mary at 30,000 feet, a little salty, a little spicy, a whole lot of altitude-induced alchemy. But this? This takes the tomato trend to cruising altitude and then parachutes into the realm of absurdity. Introducing the Heinz Tomato Ketchup Smoothie.

In a bold move worthy of a chef’s kiss, Kiwi-based, MG Group is putting its weight and five hectares of glasshouse real estate behind the humble yet heroic tomato. Up in Warkworth, North of Auckland, the co-op’s sprawling SPL site, best known for pumping out capsicums by the crate-load, is about to get a makeover. And not just any makeover, think of it as a long-term love letter to local tomato lovers, with seedlings expected in the soil before the end of the year.

Into this space walks Ārepa, New Zealand’s brain-obsessed beverage brand, now moonlighting as your night-shift neurologist thanks to the launch of its Brain Capsules for Sleep Support. It’s not warm milk. It’s L-theanine, saffron, magnesium and a very calm middle finger to melatonin.

In a move signaling both conviction and disruption. Food Frontier returns to Sydney with AltProteins 25 on Tuesday, 14 October 2025 at the Sofitel Wentworth marking its shift from Melbourne and acknowledging Sydney’s growing prominence in the alternative proteins sector.

Something fishy and frankly fabulous, is happening in the plant-based protein world. Just weeks after selling out its first alternative fish product in under an hour, Slovenian whole-cut disruptor Juicy Marbles has dropped its next act in the form of Kinda Salmon, a thick, unbreaded filet of fungi plant-based salmon goodness aiming to do for fish what its marbled steaks did for beef.

In a move blending science, Brussels bureaucracy, and digestive relief, the European Commission has officially approved a health claim that may give green kiwifruit a new lease on life, not just as a tangy fruit salad staple, but as a certified gut-friendly food.

What happens when a humble family recipe gets its big break on the world stage? In SHICKEN Spice Babies case, it wins, again. The UK-based plant-based brand has just landed another Great Taste Award, this time for its now-iconic Seekh Kebabs, hailed by the Guild of Fine Food as one of the standout flavours of 2025. That’s three years, three awards, and one very proud kitchen.

In a move that can only be described as a collective political faceplant, the food ministers of Australia’s eight states , along with New Ze

In an age when plant-based is being polished and commodified by the big boys, it’s worth pausing to honour the pioneers who paved the aisle-long way. Enter Alice Shopland: quiet rebel, reluctant entrepreneur, and the founder of New Zealand's first vegan cheese company, Angel Food. Her just-released book, Cheese Matters: To Kind Humans, is less manifesto, more memoir, charting her journey from plastic-bag-battling Grey Lynn mum to one of New Zealand’s most dogged food innovato

If plant-based burgers leave you cold and lab-grown steaks feel like science fiction, you’re not alone. Most people don’t want a lecture on sustainability with their dinner, they just want their food to taste good, feel safe, and not blow the grocery budget. Enter a new $3 million New Zealand–Singapore research collaboration aimed squarely at one thing - making hybrid future meat, consumers actually want to eat.