PLANT-BASED NEWS ARTICLES

The future of vegetables may not depend on forcing consumers to “eat healthier” at all. It may depend on flavour. New research published in Nutrition Reviews has found that adding herbs and spices to vegetables significantly increases the likelihood consumers will choose them and importantly, actually eat them. In commercial cafeteria trials, seasoned vegetables consistently outperformed plain steamed versions, with diners selecting herb-seasoned broccoli, green beans and cau

New Zealand biotech startup Forever Harvest may have just landed one of the most consumer-relevant future food breakthroughs yet - a pilot production of what it says is the world’s first cellular almond milk. Forget the lab-coat headlines for a moment. This is really about one thing consumers already understand as almond milk booms globally. Right now though the almond industry itself is under serious pressure from water shortages, climate instability and rising production co

The narrative that plant-based meat is “dead” keeps colliding with one awkward problem: consumers still want meat-like experiences without necessarily wanting more animals, more emissions, more industrial farming or belonging to a movement. Here comes Steakholder Foods with PERFECTA, a new U.S.-bound range of 3D-printed plant-based steaks, chicken breasts, salmon patties, white fish patties and filet mignon-style cuts looking uncannily close to the real thing.

The plant-based seafood sector may have just crossed a line from “interesting startup category” into something much bigger. Oshi, the company behind the first whole-cut 100% plant-based salmon fillet in the U.S. market, has secured a US$3 million strategic investment from one of Latin America’s largest traditional seafood manufacturers. That’s not just funding. That’s the old seafood economy quietly acknowledging the future may not look like trawlers forever.

China’s food strategy should be setting off alarms across New Zealand and Australia. Beijing is not merely trying to feed its population anymore, it is building a vertically integrated protein factory system spanning genetics, fermentation, synthetic biology, AI-led agriculture, ingredient processing and export manufacturing. Yet ANZ still largely behaves like a commodity frontier economy: grow it, ship it, hope the market stays loyal.

Clinical evidence helps point the way. A randomised 3×3 crossover study, published in a peer-reviewed journal and indexed on PubMed, shows that adding avocado to a mixed meal can improve post-meal blood glucose response and satiety, particularly in overweight adults. For GLP-1 users, those outcomes are not theoretical, they map directly onto daily challenges around energy dips, under-eating and nutritional adequacy.

Fresh, live fermented foods are quietly breaking out of the health-food corner in the UK and sauerkraut is leading the charge. Once seen as a sour continental side dish, kraut is now being re-discovered as a flavour-forward, everyday food, buoyed by growing interest in gut health, fermentation literacy, and mounting consumer distrust of ultra-processed foods.

The 2025 FoodTech 500 reads less like a hype parade and more like a post-mortem. Plant-based hasn’t vanished, cultivated meat hasn’t collapsed, but the centre of gravity has shifted. The companies still standing are quieter, more technical, and far less interested in convincing consumers to “change behaviour”. This year’s list rewards those building infrastructure, ingredients, and systems that slot into existing food supply chains.

Dubai, Jan 26–30, 2026 marks the launch of Gulfood 2026, the world’s largest annual food & beverage show, bringing together thousands of global exhibitors across food categories, from traditional products to cutting-edge food tech and plant-centric innovation.