China’s forthcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) cements bio-manufacturing as part of its “advanced industrial base”, blending foodtech with national security and demographic resilience. New language connects nutrition and biotech, while the Pinggu Action Plan (2025–27) anchors the country’s first state-endorsed alternative-protein cluster. These moves transform cultivated, fermented, and functional proteins from experimental to strategic.

Innova Market Insights has named digestive health, protein, and mental wellness as the leading food predictions for 2026, marking a global consumer shift toward holistic functionality and authentic nutrition.

Kiwi based, Leaft Foods extends its proprietary green-leaf extraction technology into the pet nutrition category with Alfalfa Protein Concentrate (APC), a frozen-block ingredient designed for meat-based formulations. Through Meateor’s global network, Leaft is positioning APC as the go-to sustainable protein for premium pet brands in the U.S. and Europe.

A design collaboration between Heliograf and Vert Design Studio has birthed Holy Carp! , the world’s first fully home-compostable plant-pulp soy sauce fish. Made from renewable natural fibres, the dropper biodegrades in weeks and eliminates the need for petroleum-based plastics in takeaway sushi packaging.

A new “functional-natural” wellness boom is gaining momentum under the radar of the alt-protein noise. Instead of mimicking meat, these brands are harnessing fermentation, plant prebiotics, and caffeine-free stimulation to feed both body and brain. The mood-regulating and gut-nourishing niches are rapidly converging, led by small-scale producers leveraging native and regenerative agriculture.

A naturally derived MAO-B inhibitor discovered in New Zealand blackcurrants, trademarked as Neuroberry, is rewriting the script on brain nutrition. The partnership between Ārepa, Plant & Food Research, and Callaghan Innovation (now under the BioEconomy Science Institute umbrella) has delivered a patentable compound with proven human efficacy, bridging the gap between neuroscience and functional food.

Australian precision-fermentation fat maker Nourish Ingredients establishes a global hub in Leiden, Netherlands, signalling European commercialisation of designer lipids.

WOA - Wide Open Agriculture - has crossed the core technical threshold for lupin milk by creating a stable foam, neutral taste, creamy texture, all built on a proprietary isolate and protected by a PCT filing. The go-to-market rides B2B distribution into on-trend tea/coffee beverages in China, where scale and speed favour ingredient suppliers with IP.

New Zealand’s berry sector just levelled up. The Fresh Berry Company, backed by Driscoll’s, is introducing the Eterna, the world’s largest blueberry variety, into local production. The fruit, weighing up to 20.4 grams, will be grown under plastic tunnel houses in Kerikeri, Waikato, and soon Nelson, signalling a clear shift toward premiumisation and export-ready novelty crops.

A New Zealand-born nutrient extraction platform is modernising the world’s US$60 billion Traditional Chinese Medicine industry by replacing ancient decoction methods with low-temperature, low-pressure precision extraction.

Chile’s Global AG and Global Talsa Fresh have made social commerce the centrepiece of their 2025–26 Chinese cherry launch, using TikTok as a direct-to-consumer outlet for their new AG2 variety in China. The model fuses genetic innovation with influencer-led price modulation, the more buzz, the higher the yield, both online and off, turning cherries into clicks.

UK's Squeaky Bean expands into the ready-meal category with the launch of its first-ever plant-based pies at Tesco UK, merging comfort, convenience, and functional gut-health appeal.

Brazilian scientists are code-cracking fish by establishing a volatile-compound map for plant-based fish analogues, showing which aromas drive acceptance and which repel consumers. The study bridges the taste-experience gap that’s kept seafood analogues niche.

The rise of plant–plant hybrids marks a quiet but decisive shift in alternative proteins. As meat–mushroom blends fade under regulatory and identity fatigue, companies like Canada's, Maia Farms are creating a new middle ground, hybrids that combine two complementary plant systems to overcome flavour fatigue and texture failure. By merging oyster mushroom mycelium with Canadian yellow pea, The Shred demonstrates fungi can be an ingredient architecture, not just an additive.

France’s GOURMEY has taken a decisive regulatory leap by filing Application A1341 with FSANZ for its cell cultivated duck biomass. The regulator’s choice to assess it via the General (Level 5) route, rather than the lengthy Major Procedure, compresses approval to roughly 10 months and requires only one round of consultation. That’s the clearest signal yet that FSANZ sees cultivated meat as a manageable food-safety challenge, not an existential threat.

NZ Food Awards 2025 - The Supreme Award win for Fonterra’s Easy Bakery Cream showcases NZ’s world-class dairy R&D — but also exposes the system’s export bias. A product Kiwis can’t buy wins top honours while non-animal innovators like Otis, Elta Ego, and Giesen redefine the meaning of “creaminess” at home. Add the sale of Anchor to Lactalis, and the scene looks more Paris than Palmerston North.

Raw C Coconut water has crossed the line from health-aisle curiosity to mainstream disruptor. Raw C’s record-breaking week through Woolworths, Australia, outselling 1.25 L soft drinks on units, signals a category inversion where “natural hydration” now trumps “carbonated refreshment.” Retailers are re-allocating shelf space, and soft drink giants must be feeling the tremor.

The Wonky Box expansion into meat and pantry lines signals a decisive move from niche produce-rescue to full-service grocery disruptor seen as a grassroots response to years of supermarket price-gouging and opaque sourcing.

Fable Meat Co's shiitake-infused beef through the Central Market in Texas, marks the commercial breakout of hybrid meat - a pragmatic middle ground where plant and animal proteins collaborate rather than compete. The brand’s success in Texas demonstrates that flexitarianism isn’t a niche; it’s mainstreaming through flavour, not ideology.

The Australian state of New South Wales has unveiled a comprehensive prospectus promoting regional investment in plant protein manufacturing across five key zones: Riverina Murray, New England North West, Central West Orana, North Coast, and Hunter Central Coast.