All PFN ARTICLES

“Truth is, I didn’t like the taste of the fruit,” says Satish Kumar, Principal Scientist for Tree Crops at Plant & Food Research New Zealand (Shown left), with a smile. “And that gave me a challenge - could we improve it (the dragonfruit)”

Back in the 1870s, a Chinese immigrant named Chew Chong was foraging black fungi in Taranaki and shipping them by the tonne to China. (Depiction shown below) The fungus? Hakeke. Known to the rest of the world as Woodear mushroom. Today, more than a century later, New Zealand’s long-forgotten export hero is suddenly back in fashion, everywhere but in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Just when you thought New Zealand’s export playbook couldn’t get any weirder, or more wonderful, along comes a boutique beverage company turning catnip into vino for your fur baby. Yes, really.

New Zealand’s best-selling oat milk brand, Boring, is about to infiltrate Aussie fridges, whether you like it or not. The green-and-white bottles of this unapologetically minimalist milk-alternative are now hitting 95% of Woolworths supermarkets across Australia, marking a serious cross-Tasman power play in the premium plant milk wars.

Let’s be honest. The world doesn’t need another fake meat burger. But what if your next sausage roll was plant-based, gluten-free, and didn’t taste like punishment? That’s the delicious gamble The Why Meat Company is running with and investors are lining up like it’s a Friday night footy pie run.

Where’s the rice in Japan ? That’s the question millions are asking as rice vanishes from supermarket shelves, prices spike to record highs, and consumers confront a staple food shortage few saw coming. Japan’s sticky situation is more than a supply chain hiccup, it’s a glaring reminder of why future food visioning is no longer optional.

We don’t usually interrupt your news feed for product launches alone, but this one made us stop in our tofu tracks. Because frankly, it looks like salmon. It plates like salmon. And by the look of these shots, it might just out-fish salmon - OSHI's Plant-Based Salmon.

Let’s call it what it is - a 200-page “we told you so” from Washington. The MAHA Report, has dropped with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm, lays out what anyone with half a lunchbox already knew and this is, America’s kids are sick, and ultra-processed food is a huge part of the problem. 70% of children’s daily calories now come from UPFs. Chronic illness is up.

Most alternative proteins still want you to believe you're biting into a cow. But let’s be honest: consumers are tired of being fooled, and food developers are tired of wrestling with products that fall apart in a frying pan. Enter Maia Farms, a Canadian biotech outfit serving up function over fiction with a next-gen APT (A Protein Thing) not needing to pretend.

New Zealand powerhouse brand, Zespri has just clocked over NZ$5 billion in global kiwifruit sales for the 2024/25 season, sending 220.9 million trays into markets from Seoul to Seattle. Growers are banking record returns, shareholders are celebrating, and the marketing team can finally tick off that 10-year sales target set back in 2015.

Confession time - this writer is a full-blown plant-based pie tragic. My kryptonite? A properly spicy vegan butter chicken pie from the BP servo and with a flaky crust and just enough ooze to stain my polo. So when news dropped UK vegan pie hustlers Magpye had released a Roast Chick’n Dinner Pie, I knew we were witnessing something sacred.

Greek yogurt giant Chobani has just acquired plant-based meal delivery brand Daily Harvest in a move that’s less about dairy and more about daypart domination. Industry whispers put the deal at around USD $600 million, a figure showing Chobani is serious about owning more than just your morning yogurt ritual.