New neuroimaging data has intensified scrutiny of ultra-processed foods (UPF), particularly formulations heavy in emulsifiers, flavour systems, and structural additives. Crucially, UPFs span all categories, meat, dairy, snacks, beverages, and plant-based alike. Yet public discourse increasingly frames the issue as a plant-based failure, rather than an industrial food-system problem.

Australia’s 2025 food signals point to a structural shift rather than a trend cycle. Pureprofile’s national social-insights model highlights a population leaning hard into provenance, local sovereignty, plant-forward living, and an AI-enabled reimagining of product development. Traditional narratives of “premium imports” are being displaced by identity-led consumption treating food as cultural expression, not just nutrition. Australia isn’t waiting for permission, it’s invent

The Top 20 food-tech companies identified here demonstrate a global move away from “alternative protein” novelty and toward industrial-grade food architecture. This is the beginning of a new supply-chain model.

Norway’s Katapult Ocean has officially invested in Atlantic Fish Co, adding financial weight and strategic validation to a cultivated-fish player developing whole-cut whitefish fillets using fish-cell lines and structured scaffolding. This is a notable signal: a major seafood nation, not just a VC group, is beginning to position itself inside the cell-based seafood ecosystem. The investment also gives Atlantic Fish Co access to Nordic research capability, aquaculture expertis