If you’re making cultivated meat in a bioreactor instead of a living, breathing animal, and you want to introduce it to consumers for the first time, what’s the best launch vehicle? A chicken nugget or fillet, a thin beef steak, a high-value item such...
Rising awareness amongst Thai consumers regarding the potential unhealthy connotations associated with long expiry dates is a key factor driving up the demand for clean label food ingredients in the country, according to leading industry experts.
Cultivated meat pioneers GOOD Meat says that consumer awareness of such products is still relatively low in the Middle East, but that there is significant interest to purchase once they have been exposed to the concept.
The interest in cleaner and better-for-you snacks shown by big food and beverage brands, including Mondelez, Nestle and Vitasoy, is paving the way for a new specialised area of plant-based proteins to enter the market, namely the RuBisCo leaf protein.
Increasingly challenging consumer demands for products that can satisfy both taste and convenience needs are accelerating format and flavour innovation within the ready-to-cook (RTC) foods sector, according to Tyson’s APAC VP.
The Japanese government has implemented tighter regulations for organic food imports, with firms required to appoint specific personnel and use standard organic certification labels to avoid being rejected.
The ability to accurately convert consumer demands and preferences into real, technical product concepts remains a key challenge for the plant-based sector in the APAC region, according to industry experts at Roquette.
FNA DEEP DIVE: CULTIVATED MEAT & FERMENTATION TECH
Novel protein production technologies such as cultivated meat and precision fermentation are seeing consumer acceptance soar in APAC, but are still some way off achieving price parity for the everyday consumer due to challenges with regulations and scale.
Two US-based precision fermentation startups making real dairy ingredients using microbes instead of cows have announced significant developments as they gear up to launch next year in the emerging ‘animal-free dairy’ category.
Both indulgence and affordability are emerging as major APAC consumer demands for food and beverages today, leaving a manufacturers with a paradoxical challenge that can only be solved using innovation.
Indonesia has decided to push ahead with plans to tighten regulations governing imported processed foods by introducing a risk-based assessment system.
The scientific validation of ingredients and sensitive marketing strategies are key for brands to drive repeat purchases in Asia’s thriving healthy ageing category, according to an expert panel at our Growth Asia Summit 2022.
One-third of toddlers in Australia are consuming excess sodium in their daily diets, with experts stating the situation is so bad that simply reducing snack or discretionary foods intakes is insufficient.
Offering plant-based meat in a wider range of formats and targeting new demographics such as toddlers is key to attract new and loyal consumers, according to Kerry.
Regulatory pressure from Asian governments will drive food and beverage firms to use natural colours, with it rapidly becoming less of a trend and more of a necessity.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is establishing Dubai’s first e-commerce pavilion on its platform with the backing of local trade authority Dubai Industries and Exports, urging Middle Eastern food firms to hop on board and boost exports to China and...
Indonesian food and beverage firms have been urged to accelerate their new product innovation and digital adaptation to keep up with consumer demands, especially with multiple post-COVID-19 challenges still dampening the local economy.
China has expanded efforts to eliminate excessive packaging with rules now covering more food categories, in addition to implementing a multi-ministerial governance system to regulate the supply chain.
Consumers in the Asia Pacific region will continue to be strongly driven by products with clean label and positive nutrition claims moving into the new year, with food and beverage brands also set to boost innovation to meet these demands.
Malaysian plant-based protein firm the Ultimeat Group plans to tailor its formulation and packaging to every market it intends to enter from 2023 to 2024.
The Japanese government has called on local food businesses and producers to co-operate more closely with local authorities and basic regional sustainability plans so the national Green Food System Strategy will hit its 2030 and 2050 targets.
Global flavours giant McCormick has revealed that product innovation with spicy flavours that can bring the heat is going to be key for snacking firms in Indonesia to achieve significant growth.
Like several Asian countries, Thailand is experiencing a greying population. While interest in healthy ageing is high, the level of innovation for this category of products remains relatively low.
Major food and beverage firms in Asia looking to make the transition to sustainable packaging have their work cut out, not only due to the widely-acknowledged climate challenges, but also hurdles in their current shelf life commitments and supply chain...
China’s plant-based and cultured meat market is getting increasingly competitive, but industry collaboration and product localisation are going to be crucial if it is to become more ‘relevant’ to consumers.
Flavour enhancement products today need to not only cater to consumers’ clean label demands, but also be made using clean energy if firms wish to capitalise on the current wellness and sustainability trends that are on the rise in the China and Middle...
Japan has set its sights on Vietnam as a potential major destination for its food exports and has set up a specialised export platform in the country to back existing and would-be traders.
Disease outbreaks, such as swine flu affecting pork quality and the COVID-19 pandemic hitting supply chains, have raised the profile of plant-based products among lower-income consumers in Thailand, according to a brand CEO.
Ireland is eyeing the South East Asian region as its next major dairy and meat export market, banking on its ability to offer guaranteed sustainability and high quality to capture consumers in the region.
Major Australian supermarkets have been urged to refocus their pricing, product and e-commerce strategies to fulfil consumer demands for affordable products and convenient shopping, as inflation rockets.
Food and beverage major CP Foods has identified the strengthening of its water management, food safety standards and healthy product innovation as key strategies to help the company with its business sustainability ambitions.
The expertise of global food corporations and VC firms is urgently needed to drive the Thai foodtech system and help build a regulatory framework for novel foods, while also offering more support to start-ups.
The long-term imperative driving meat alternatives is clear: We only have one planet, with a growing population and finite resources, and raising animals to feed them all just takes up too many of them, says Tom Mastrobuoni, chief investment officer at...
APAC Ministers responsible for food security have failed to reach an agreement to prohibit countries from imposing food export bans, as the region continues to battle economic and supply uncertainties resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Tyson’s plant-based innovations are complementary and not competitors to its existing traditional meat products, claims its Vice President Commercial for APAC in the first part of our exclusive interview.
The New Zealand food and grocery sector has given a wholehearted welcome to the government’s latest move mandating major supermarkets to negotiate wholesale rates when selling groceries to their competitors.
Thai Union has outlined ambitious goals for its in-house plant-based meat and seafood range OMG Meat over the next three years, including for its alternative protein sector to be bringing in US$30mn of revenue by 2025.
Singapore-based food technology firm ProfilePrint believes it has the capability to establish global standards for the food industry using its digital food fingerprint technology, on the back of partnerships with five of the food and beverage industry's...
The Asian plant-based protein start-up scene is geared to grow 25% by 2025 as more Asians look into flexitarian diets and firms region-wide strive to develop products better suited to their palate.
The traditional meat industry in Australia has urged for the handling of food safety and biosecurity issues to be kept separate from politics in the country, following public concerns over cattle diseases as well as the government’s new National Biosecurity...
Plant-based meat in a dry, ambient format could provide the alternative protein industry with cleaner and more convenient options that can simultaneously also offer longer shelf-life and stability.
Five of South Korea’s biggest retail chains have been urged to cooperate with the government in efforts to stabilise local food prices, with the nation’s biggest festival Chuseok around the corner.
Frozen poultry giant Sadia says that frozen chicken can be the answer to solving Singapore’s supply instability concerns in the wake of shortages from previous top supplier Malaysia, as freshness, nutrition and flavour can all be well-maintained if handled...
Japan’s longstanding ambitions to boost its food self-sufficiency rates by 2030 has suffered a major setback after government data revealed it has dropped to its lowest value in a decade.
China has relaxed entry rules for ‘low risk’ food and beverage imports that ‘test positive’ for COVID-19, citing the virus’ short survival time on packaging surfaces.
The United Nations will host its 27th Climate Change Conference in a matter of months. As leaders gear up for COP27 in Egypt, food industry experts want to see an increased focus on food system resilience and transformation. Here’s why.
Asia Pacific consumers are increasingly turning to the back of food packaging to check ingredient lists, before considering any front-of-pack health claims, with interest in clean label products seemingly gathering pace.
Singapore traceability technology firm Natural Trace believes it has pioneered a world-first category of in-product tagging based on DNA markers integrated directly within food and beverage products, creating a watermark of sorts that could solve traceability...