All PFN ARTICLES

A new generation of biotechnology is turning industrial waste gas to protein, opening up a potential pathway for countries such as New Zealand to expand food production without requiring additional farmland, freshwater or livestock.

Monty & Sons has launched a pasta range made from New Zealand-grown durum wheat, creating what is believed to be one of the country's first fully traceable paddock-to-plate pasta supply chains. The wheat is grown by members of the Wairarapa Grains Collective before being milled and manufactured locally.

California-based TRIC Robotics has developed autonomous field robots that use UV-C light to suppress pathogens, fungal diseases and pests without applying conventional chemical sprays. Operating mostly at night, the robots expose crops to precisely controlled doses of ultraviolet light, disrupting disease cycles while reducing the need for chemical intervention. The timing is significant.

The concept is simple but powerful. Imagine a Taupo Bio Valley stretching across New Zealand's geothermal corridor, where renewable energy, industrial heat and biotechnology come together to produce the next generation of food ingredients and nutritional products. Precision fermentation facilities could manufacture animal-free whey protein, casein, collagen and specialised food ingredients using microbes rather than livestock. Geothermal energy would provide the stable power

New Zealand did not lose a seaweed company. It lost a seat at the table of a rapidly emerging global methane-reduction industry. CH4 Global was established in New Zealand in 2019 with the goal of commercialising Asparagopsis seaweed as a methane-reducing livestock feed supplement. The technology works. Research has repeatedly shown methane reductions of up to 90 percent or more in cattle. Investors backed the company. Global demand emerged. International partnerships followe

“There’s never been a better time for ANZ artisanal food producers to enter the China market.” That’s the assessment from Iain Langridge, MD of In2AsiaExports, who has spent more than a decade helping premium international food and wine brands establish themselves across China’s fast-evolving and ever changing food landscape.

Vietnam’s seafood economy, one of the world’s most export-oriented and livelihood-intensive, is watching a new frontier emerge in the form of bioreactor-based seafood cultivation. “Cell-cultured seafood” grown in giant industrial bioreactors, stainless-steel tanks more like brewery vats, rather than ponds, could produce tuna and shrimp without a single drop of seawater, completely free of mercury and microplastics. This represents a major change in traditional aquaculture an

In the UK, Marks & Spencer ( M&S) is under fresh scrutiny after a vigilante food waste watchdog posted a video on Instagram and TikTok showing wheelie bins of in-date, unsold food and flowers left behind an M&S store, everything from sliced meats and whole chickens to potatoes and bakery goods still days from expiry.

Meat isn’t being replaced, it’s being re-engineered, and New Zealand is now part of that shift. Across food science, a new logic is taking hold, the future of protein isn’t “meat versus alternatives,” it’s meat plus. Hybrid protein , a blending of animal protein with algae, yeast, plants, or fermentation-derived biomass, is emerging as the most commercially realistic path to better nutrition, lower environmental load, and preserved taste. This isn’t a food trend. It’s a re

Organic dried fruit is quietly having a moment and not the dusty trail-mix kind. According to Verified Market Reports, the category is riding a wave of clean-label snacking, rising disposable incomes, and a renewed appetite for food that feels both simple and earned. The firm projects a 6.5% annual growth from 2026 to 2033, pushing the market from US$3.35bn in 2024 to US$5.78bn by 2033. This isn’t dried fruit nostalgia, it’s a food sector re-valuation.

Eggs are quietly becoming optional in South Island bakeries. Foodstuffs South Island, NZ is trialling Leaf Rubisco Protein as an egg replacement across more than 200 New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square stores, marking the first major retail test for the Canterbury-based ingredient maker Leaft Foods. Cakes, muffins and fresh bakery staples are the proving ground, exactly where eggs normally do the heavy lifting on structure, binding and lift.

A new computational study from the UK has thrown a curveball at the functional-food world as researchers find sterilised plant-based metabolic ferments, dead ferments, may still exert meaningful metabolic effects along obesity and type-2 diabetes pathways. Forget probiotics and gut flora nostalgia, these researchers are mapping how heat-treated ferments could influence insulin signalling, lipid regulation, and appetite control without the live bacteria consumers assume are do