All PFN ARTICLES

Swees Plant Based Foods, the Thai maker of the country’s first vegan cheese, has rolled out a new line called CleanBean. Think Beev Steaklets and Chick*n Bites, designed to fry, grill, or simmer in a green curry without a label full of additives.

Amazing to think a whey product can come not from a cow, but from water. New Zealand’s Nutrition from Water (NXW) has just unveiled Marine Whey™ Golden 35, a protein concentrate clocking in at 35% and designed for bakery, nutrition, and dairy-alt applications. Whats amazing is it’s grown from microscopic aquatic organisms, not milk.

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.

Rotorua isn’t just opening another factory, it’s opening the door to a $50 billion bio-economy. The new 63-million dollar biofactory proposed for the SCION facility, takes the raw power of New Zealand’s forestry sector and creates a whole new paradigm where logs are no longer the endgame, they’re the feedstock for fuels, chemicals, and high-value materials that can rival fossil-based products on the world stage.

Australia’s supermarket aisles just got a little more European chic. Woolworths has cut a deal with Waterdrop, the Austrian hydration brand that turns plain old H₂O into a functional wellness statement with a dissolving cube. From this week, more than 900 stores nationwide will stock five of its vitamin and electrolyte SKUs - berry, cola, peach, grapefruit, and passionfruit.

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.

Wattie’s Heinz may be walking away from New Zealand peaches, Hawke’s Bay peaches, but growers don’t have to.

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.

Italy’s Gruppo Tonazzo, after 136 years in meat, has gone all-in on plants. The family company closed its butchery operations at the end of 2024 and handed the reins to its Kioene plant-based brand, which has been around since the late 1980s. What was once a sideline has now become the centrepiece with attractive packs of mini burgers made from pumpkin, carrots, eggplant, spinach and kale are carried in Carrefour Italy and millions of households nationwide.

New Zealand’s green-leaf disruptor, Leaft Foods, is stepping firmly into Asia with a strategic partnership alongside Tokyo-based Lacto Japan. At the heart of this move is Rubisco Protein Isolate, a leaf-derived protein boasting an amino acid profile superior to dairy whey, coupled with the functionality to replace eggs, emulsifiers, and synthetic binders in everyday foods.