PLANT-BASED NEWS ARTICLES

A dairy-free take on classic Kiwi onion dip and a founder who loves experimenting have given New Zealand’s plant-based food sector something to celebrate. Savour Vegan Creamery founder Auda Finan has been named Food Technologist/Developer of the Year at the 2026 New Zealand Food Awards, with Savour’s Onion winning gold in the Chilled/Frozen category and Butta collecting silver.

These five foods as concepts are speculative, but each has roots in science or products already emerging here.

Innova Market Insights' Top 10 Food Trends for 2027 suggests a significant change in consumer expectations. Nutritional quality, digestibility, metabolic health, longevity and fermentation are increasingly shaping what people want from their food. And there's a subtle message for food manufacturers: simply adding another five grams of protein may no longer be enough.

Beyond Meat is broadening its offer from meat alternatives into everyday plant nutrition. Its brand-new "Phytosphere" portfolio brings together protein powders, savoury bars, beverages and meal products through a dedicated direct-to-consumer website. The range combines plant protein with nutrients including fibre, positioning Beyond across more eating occasions.

A new global food biotech shortlist isn't the final word on who will shape 2027, but it provides a remarkably telling picture of where food biotech is heading. Protein Production Technology International (PPTI) has shortlisted 81 companies from 379 nominations for its eventual 27 Food-Techs to Watch in 2027. Public voting remains open until October 23, with the final 27 due to be revealed in Amsterdam in November. So this is not yet the Top 27.

Impossible Foods has found a pragmatic way into one of Europe’s most important grocery markets simply by stopping to waiting for its signature heme ingredient to be approved.

Every time tofu or soymilk is produced, a wet soybean pulp called okara is left behind. It still contains valuable nutrients and protein, but because it is highly perishable, fibrous and relatively unappealing in taste and texture, much of it ends up as low-value animal feed or food waste.

Meati lost the bathwater, but a remarkably well-priced baby has been saved providing food biotech's second life. Somewhere amid the collapse and attempted revival of US alternative-protein company Meati Foods, a valuable piece of the food-biotech future was left behind: twelve 25,000-litre fermentation tanks, their associated seed systems and a combined 300,000 litres of production capacity.

Food innovation is entering a more commercially disciplined phase. The strongest developments are no longer technology demonstrations or novelty launches, they involve proven manufacturing, familiar applications and clearly defined routes to market. Here are five consequential food signals from the past week