All PFN ARTICLES

A new oat oil extraction breakthrough from South Australia could supercharge the plant-based sector, unlocking new possibilities for everything from buttery spreads to clean-label beauty products and it all starts with a humble grain we thought we already knew and plant-based lipids.

The World Bank, WWF, and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation just dropped a sprawling new report outlining how sustainable aquaculture could feed the planet, fix the climate, and create 22 million new jobs by 2050. It’s a big fish story with one clear headline:

Sri Lanka has just signed an MoU with Australia to boost its specialty coffee sector. But the real story isn’t bureaucratic. It’s botanical. It’s about unlocking the island’s microclimates, volcanic soils, and heirloom arabica varietals that have long played second fiddle to Ceylon tea.

But let’s be clear. Federer didn’t write a personal cheque for $330M. He was part of a previous capital round in 2021 that brought in $235 million, with NotCo’s latest valuation milestone reflecting cumulative investments across multiple raises. What matters here isn’t the size of his wallet, it’s where he’s pointing it.

Biomanufacturing, cheese and meat, isn’t just food innovation, it’s fast becoming a national security priority, and Australia and New Zealand risk falling behind as the world ferments the future without them.

Once just a squishy afterthought on a pizza or a supporting act in a stir-fry, mushrooms have gone from background noise to full-blown digital celebrity. And not just any mushrooms, we’re talking about the exotic, the shaggy, the shelf-stable, the biohacked.

The shelves may still be stocked, but behind the scenes, one of the world’s most recognisable food brands is collapsing under the weight of its own cans. Del Monte Foods Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, announcing a fire-sale of assets and a management pledge to “reset” the company under new ownership.

Circana’s June report confirms what supermarket aisles have been quietly whispering for months and this is emotional eating is having a very public moment. Sales of products offering mental wellness benefits are holding strong, despite belt-tightening elsewhere in the basket. While shoppers are trading down on pantry basics, they’re deliberately trading up on food feeding the mind. And mood foods are leading the way.

A world-first circular bioprocessing system developed by Powered by Plants (PbP) and backed by the New Zealand Food Innovation Network (NZFIN) is upcycling the ugly underbelly of our horticulture sector, think discarded onions, surplus carrots, bruised blueberries, into high-value powders, extracts, and concentrates for the food, nutraceutical, and supplement industries.

In a move that will rattle both Big Meat and the deep-pocketed FoodTech set, Chicago’s Clever Carnivore just dropped a petrie dish and the cost of cultivated pork production media (the liquid cells are grown in) by achieving a new benchmark price of USD$0.07 per litre at pilot scale. No bovine serum. No pricey pharma vendors. Just some secondhand steel and a serious attitude adjustment to bioprocessing. What is more, no need for animal slaughter.

It’s happened. After years of speculation, lobbying, and lab-grown ambition, Australia has formally approved Vow’s cell-cultured quail for h

Speaking at Bridge2Food Europe in The Hague, TiNDLE Foods co-founder and former CEO, Andre Menezes didn’t just suggest a rethink. He 'key-noted' the event by detonating a few myths that have quietly haunted the plant-based alt-protein industry since its 2019 peak.