All foods approved as vegan and sold in India will be required to carry a standardised logo on-pack, effective from 1 July 2027. The initiative aims to create a unified, nationally recognised identity for products that have been approved as vegan – meaning they are entirely free from animal-derived ingredients – by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). When a product has been approved as vegan by the FSSAI, it must display the required vegan logo from the date of the regulation becoming effective, aiming to support consumers in clearly identifying vegan-friendly products on-shelf. This latest development is an amendment to the FSSAI’s Vegan Food Regulation of 2022, formalising the standardised logo and setting out clear specifications around its exact dimensions and colours, as well as confirming the exact deadline for implementation. The logo features a green square symbol containing a green ‘V,’ the word ‘VEGAN’ displayed in upper-case below, and a sprouting leaf motif above the ‘V’. © FSSAI Monita Gahlot, dietician at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said the logo will “reduce confusion in food choice and labelling claims,” helping consumers to differentiate products that are vegetarian – free from meat, but still containing certain animal ingredients such as dairy and egg – from those that are entirely plant-based. She told the Times of India that consumers often spend “considerable time scrutinising ingredients lists” to identify whether a product is of plant origin.

Ingredion and Tate & Lyle’s boards have today (8 June 2026) announced an agreement on the terms of an all-cash £2.7 billion acquisition offer put forward by Ingredion. The transaction, subject to approval by Tate & Lyle’s shareholders, implies a total enterprise value of approximately £3.7 billion ($5 billion). Tate & Lyle shareholders will receive 595p in cash per share, representing a premium of nearly 59% to Tate & Lyle’s closing price on 13 May 2026. The proposal was first announced last month, with Tate & Lyle confirming the discussions following several 'earlier approaches' from Ingredion. The deal would bring together two F&B industry powerhouses with complementary portfolios to create a scaled, global speciality ingredients provider. The companies aim to better address evolving consumer needs by building a wider platform that combines both business’ strengths, technical expertise and international supply networks. In particular, the acquisition of Tate & Lyle will broaden Ingredion’s portfolio across texturants, sugar reduction and fortification, adding complementary capabilities in multi-ingredient systems and recipe development. Completion of the acquisition is expected in the second half of 2027. Tate & Lyle’s board of directors said it will unanimously recommend shareholders vote in favour of the deal. Jim Zallie, chairman, president and CEO of Ingredion, said: “Combining Ingredion and Tate & Lyle’s complementary portfolios establishes a global leader in ingredient solutions with the innovation expertise and geographic reach that will help create the future of food”. “The combined business will be better positioned to serve customers’ needs for the development of great-tasting, healthier and affordable food products that consumers demand. This compelling combination will create exciting new possibilities for employees and generate significant value for all stakeholders.” David Hearn, chair of Tate & Lyle, commented: “Over the last few years, Tate & Lyle has been successfully repositioned as a leading global specialty food and beverage solutions business aligned to growing consumer demand for healthier, more nutritious and sustainable food and drink.” “I would like to recognise the exceptional contribution of the team at Tate & Lyle for their talent, insight and commitment which has been a key driver of this transformation and the business we have built. Looking forward, we believe the next chapter with Ingredion will create a business with even greater potential, greater scale, and increased investment in innovation in support of customers.”

Austrian food-tech start-up Revo Foods has expanded its portfolio of mycoprotein innovations with the launch of El Pollo – a chicken-style fillet. El Pollo, like the other products in Revo’s range, is made using the company’s proprietary 3D structuring technology. The tech platform enables a juicy and fibrous texture, using fermented fungi-based mycoprotein to offer a ‘chicken-like bite’. The product has been in development for more than two years according to Revo Foods, and is claimed to offer a ‘completely new texture experience’ that is distinct from other products currently available in this category. Available in three varieties – Original, Asian Fusion and BBQ Style – the product offers a clean-label, simple ingredients list and has a Nutri-Score of A. It is high in protein and fibre, and free from major allergens. The product is designed for convenience, with a cooking time of around five minutes. Robin Simsa, commercial director of Revo Foods, said: “Chicken is the most-eaten meat in the world, but most plant-based versions are easy to forget”. “We focused on getting the texture right, and El Pollo is the result. For us it shows just how versatile mycoprotein becomes when combined with our 3D structuring process.” The company, established in 2020, began its journey with a portfolio of alt-seafood products. Its salmon-style fillet, launched in 2023, was claimed to be the world’s first 3D-printed food product to hit European supermarket shelves. Since, the company has expanded its range to include other functional products outside of seafood – such as its Fungi Mince and The Prime Cut innovations. Now, El Pollo represents its first move into plant-based chicken – though Simsa emphasised that the company does not wish to position it as an “alternative”. In a statement on LinkedIn, he explained: “El Pollo is not a chicken alternative. It is a mycoprotein-based product that is ‘inspired by chicken.’ Small wording change, big difference in perception.” Simsa said that positioning products as “alternatives” invites comparison, with Revo Foods pushing for the product to be judged “on its own quality”. “We don't sell it as ‘tastes 100% like chicken.’ We sell it as what it is: high in protein, high in fibre (which meat lacks), a complete amino acid profile, low in fat. Healthy, few ingredients. And it tastes a bit like chicken,” he wrote. “Less ideological communication lets more people try these products without getting an immediate identity crisis.” El Pollo is now available on Revo Foods’ website, priced at €4.29, and is rolling out this month in supermarkets across Austria, Germany and Italy.

SunOpta has announced the opening of a newly expanded production line for ‘better-for-you’ fruit snacks at its facility in Omak, Washington, US. The expansion represents an investment of over $25 million and is expected to increase fruit snack production capacity by 25%. Consumers are increasingly seeking natural snack options made with real fruit and no artificial colours, with significant regulatory developments in the US targeting synthetic food ingredients in recent years. SunOpta aims to meet that demand with its fruit snacks, which use an apple base and juice concentrates from other fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, lemon and pomegranate to achieve the desired flavour and colour without artificial additives. Its snacks are produced in a range of formats including ‘bits, twists, sandwiches and strips,’ with the company focusing on continued innovation across flavours, textures and shapes. The company’s R&D team crafts products with as few as five real fruit ingredients, no high-fructose corn syrup and none of the ‘top nine’ common allergens. Options range from classic berry flavours to tropical and seasonal varieties. SunOpta operates seven manufacturing plants in six markets, with fruit snacks production on both North American coasts. The company employs more than 260 people at its facility in Omak, which produces the fruit snacks for sale across the retail club, foodservice and e-commerce channels. Brian Kocher, CEO of SunOpta, said: “Demand for better for you fruit snacks continues to accelerate, and this expansion positions us to meet that momentum head on”. “By investing in our existing footprint and capabilities, we’re strengthening our ability to support customers with the scale, flexibility and reliability they need today and well into the future. Our fruit snacks platform reflects what SunOpta does best: combining innovation, quality and operational excellence at scale.” SunOpta, which also offers beverages and broths within its portfolio, was recently acquired by Refresco in a deal worth around $1 billion. Top image: © SunOpta

Warrior has expanded its range of creatine offerings with a new Creatine Gummies product, available at 164 Morrisons stores across the UK. The listing follows the strong retail performance of the sports nutrition brand’s broader product range, sitting within Morrisons’ healthcare aisle and marking an expansion of Warrior’s partnership with the supermarket. The gummies have been developed to offer over 3g of pure creatine monohydrate in an on-the-go format. Warrior noted that this responds to growing demand for convenient ways for consumers to integrate creatine into their daily routines. Creatine is rising in popularity across a broad range of shoppers, with the gummies offering a quick and easy option that sits alongside the brand’s existing powder format – which Warrior reported strong performance for in Morrisons. Each tub of gummies provides a 30-day supply. The gummies contain zero sugar and are vegan-friendly, aligning with demand for cleaner-label and lifestyle-led nutrition. Warrior acknowleged that many gummy supplements on the market fall short of active ingredient levels, confirming that its gummies are HPLC-tested and independently verified by third-party laboratories Precision Analysis and A&T Global. The testing confirmed potency of 24-27g of creatine per 100g, with no deviations. Kieran Fisher, Warrior’s founder and CEO, commented: “The demand for creatine right now is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s evolved from a niche gym supplement into one of the biggest ingredients in health and nutrition, and the consumer buying into the category today is far broader than it was even two years ago.” FoodBev explored this broadening of the market in its most recent cover feature, highlighting how awareness is growing of the wider benefits of creatine supplementation beyond sports, tapping into trending areas such as women’s health and longevity. “The response to our wider creatine range has been incredible, so expanding further with Morrisons is a huge milestone for the brand,” added Fisher. “This launch is about making creatine more accessible to everyday shoppers by offering a format that feels approachable, enjoyable and easy to use consistently.” Warrior Creatine Gummies are available in Morrisons stores and online, priced at £20 for 30 servings.

New research from gut health science company Zoe found that of 2,000 UK consumers surveyed, 90% do not know the recommended daily fibre target, while 66% feel misled by ‘deceptive’ marketing claims on food packaging. The survey highlighted a ‘dangerous fibre gap’ across the nation, with public awareness of the issue and faith in the government to address the problem found to be low. Zoe said this ‘fibre gap’ is fuelling a rise in gut-related health issues such as constipation, as well as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, stroke and even some cancers. The average UK adult consumes just 16.4g of fibre, with only 5% of the population meeting the recommended daily target of 30g. Tim Spector, scientific co-founder of Zoe, is calling for greater action from the government and food industry to tackle the country’s current ‘ultra-processed food environment,’ with 60% of British diets now consisting of UPFs. Notably, the survey points out that poor diets have now overtaken smoking as the leading preventable cause of death and ill health. Fewer than one in four survey respondents identified this, with more than one in three (35%) still believing smoking is the leading cause, compared with poor diet (22%), alcohol consumption (17%), physical inactivity (8%) and air pollution (9%). The survey also reveals consumers are struggling within ‘a confusing UPF environment’: with two-thirds feeling misled by food marketing claims, and around seven in ten (69%) saying they would make different food choices if they had access to clearer guidance on which foods support their health. This was particularly true for Millennials (75%) and Gen Z (74%). Only 9% of respondents believe the government is taking the nation’s diet ‘very seriously,’ while more than half (52%) said the government could be doing more to address the issue. Spector called the survey’s findings a “wake-up call for a nation trapped in a broken food system”. He commented: “It is staggering that despite poor diet overtaking smoking as the leading cause of preventable death, fewer than a quarter of adults recognise the danger on their plates. This isn’t a failure of personal willpower; it’s a failure of policy.” “People want to make healthier choices, but they are being thwarted by deceptive marketing and a lack of clear guidance.” Spector argues that we cannot rely on “voluntary industry shifts,” adding: “We need urgent, systemic intervention now, including mandatory warning labels on UPFs, an expanded sugar tax, and a radical reduction of these foods in our schools and hospitals. Nutrition must be treated as the major public health priority it is.”

Mondelēz International's Clif brand has expanded its Builders protein bar line with the launch of a new White Fudge Oreo-flavoured variety. The bar is aimed at consumers seeking post-workout recovery products with an indulgent taste profile. Inspired by the White Fudge Oreo sandwich cookie, it features a crunchy texture, a white fudge coating and a dark cocoa drizzle. Each bar contains 20g of plant-based protein, alongside carbohydrates designed to support recovery after exercise and training. Saurabh Kaushik, head of Clif & Builders innovation at Mondelēz International, said: “Following the strong success of our Builders Oreo-flavoured launch in 2025, we're expanding the partnership platform in 2026 with a new White Fudge Oreo-flavoured protein bar." "This innovation continues to deliver what fans expect from Builders: high-quality ingredients, delicious taste and high protein to help support post-workout recovery.” The new product joins the Builders portfolio, which includes flavours such as Chocolatey Peanut Butter, as well as the brand's reduced-sugar crispy protein bar range, available in varieties including Almond Salted Caramel. According to the company, the bars are gluten-free, contain no artificial sweeteners and are individually wrapped for on-the-go consumption. Like all of Clif's products, the bar is made with 100% plant-based ingredients. The White Fudge Oreo-flavoured Builders protein bar is now available through Amazon and selected US retailers, including Albertsons, Meijer and Hy-Vee, with a suggested retail price of $1.99-$2.29 per bar.

New European research from Soil Capital suggests that regenerative farming practices can help protect crop production during drought. The analysis is based on independently verified, primary data from 1,262 farms across 331,600 hectares in France. It focused on commonly grown European arable crops, including winter wheat, winter barley, winter rapeseed, spring barley, grain corn and potato. Built through Soil Capital’s regenerative farming transition programme, the dataset combines information on farming practices, yields and soil conditions at field level – data which, according to the organisation, has not previously been available at such a scale or level of granularity. Until now, evidence linking regenerative agriculture to resilience has been largely limited to individual farm studies or theoretical modelling, Soil Capital said. In the area where the most detailed evaluation was conducted, yields of the majorly affected crop fell by 22% on the least regenerative farms following the 2023 droughts, compared with only an 8% decline on the highly regenerative farms. The dataset for the whole of France shows the trend scales, and is statistically significant when other potential drivers such as soil type are controlled. Across cereal crops specifically, 82 of the 96 French regions experienced significant drought in the period. Within these, regenerative practices reduced drought-related yield losses by at least 10% in around 85% of cases. Andrew Voysey, chief impact officer at Soil Capital, said: “For the first time, we are moving beyond anecdote or modelling to show, through large-scale independently verified field data, how regenerative agriculture can help protect production. That begins to move resilience from a high-level concept towards something that can be understood and managed as a financial risk factor.” Following the positive early findings, Voysey confirmed that Soil Capital is now collaborating with industry and academic partners to help convert the insights into “more informed, risk-adjusted decision-making”. Erik Mathijs, head of agricultural, food and resource economics at KU Leaven in Belgium (the initiative’s first academic partner), commented: “There has long been academic interest in how different farming practices can moderate the damaging effects of climate stress on farm output, but what has held us all back is the lack of robust field-level data across large geographies and multiple successive years”. He added: “Soil Capital’s dataset is unusually strong in this regard and creates an important opportunity to combine our economic and statistical expertise with their agronomic and data science capabilities”.

Fungi start-ups Infinite Roots and Bosque Foods have joined forces under one roof, with Bosque announcing its acquisition by Infinite Roots last week. Both food-tech companies were founded in Germany, each focusing on developing sustainable, plant-based food products from mycelium (the root-like structure of fungi). Since its establishment in 2020, Bosque Foods expanded with a team of 25 food scientists and engineers, working across New York, US, as well as Berlin. The company uses mycelium to develop clean-label and high-fibre plant-based alternatives to whole-cut meat products. The company’s founder and CEO, Isabella Iglesias-Musachio, shared a statement on LinkedIn announcing the news. She wrote: “This journey was the most challenging and rewarding of my career. The climate tech sector faced real headwinds over the past few years, and navigating that required resilience from everyone involved. Through it all, I was surrounded by people who believed in what we were building.” © Bosque Foods She thanked the company’s workforce, partners and advisors, as well as its investors – which include FoodLabs, ProVeg Incubator, SOSV and others. “Infinite Roots offered the right home for Bosque's technology to continue developing at scale,” she added. “As the mycelium category matures and consolidates around companies with the infrastructure to industrialise, their platform gives what we built a strong path forward – and that's exactly the outcome I hoped for.“ Infinite Roots said it will integrate Bosque Foods’ intellectual property and knowledge in solid-state fermentation, and whole-cut meat alternative development, into its food-tech platform. Founded in Hamburg in 2018, Infinite Roots (formerly named Mushlabs) aims to make mycelium a ‘staple ingredient’ around the world. The company introduced its first mushroom-based food product under the MushRoots brand in Germany last year, a meatball-style format making its debut in the country’s foodservice market. © Infinite Roots Founder and CEO Mazen Rizk said: “The next phase of mycelium will not be won by isolated breakthroughs alone, but by companies that can integrate biology, process data, IP and industrial execution”. Top image: © Bosque Foods

Sustainable fats and oils start-up Sun Bear Biofuture has completed its first successful production run at less than 10% of the industry’s average set-up cost, utilising its new £25,000 automated pilot facility. The new plant has production capacity for dozens of kilos of sustainable oils per month, aiming to meet demand for more resilient and stable lipid ingredient supply chains for the food and cosmetic sectors. While a conventional precision fermentation pilot plant typically costs in the range of £350,000 to £1 million, providing a significant barrier to the food-tech industry, Sun Bear Biofuture’s approach harnesses lower-cost brewery and dairy equipment – enabling the start-up to compete with commodity products like cocoa butter. Founded in 2022 in Oxford, UK, Sun Bear Biofuture’s mission is to dramatically reduce the impact that fats and oils have on the planet. According to the start-up, its ingredients cut land use by up to 95% and reduce the carbon emissions of similar tropical ingredients, such as palm oil and cocoa butter, by 90%. Tropical oils have seen significant supply fluctuations in the last five years, fuelling industry efforts to find alternatives with more resilient supply chains. Cocoa butter prices increased by six times in 2025. In 2024, Sun Bear Biofuture achieved a record cell lipid content of 78%, reflecting the amount of the yeast cell made up of fat, helping to cut production costs. Multiple iterations of designs for the fermentation tank and wider facility took place over the last 18 months, with the final fermentation tank costing less than £1,000 and the downstream yeast biomass processing engineered for efficiency. Innovation around the downstream processing method of oil extraction has helped drop production and scale-up costs by removing multiple industry-standard pieces of equipment. Additionally, use of solvents such as hexane is not required. A study last year from Greenpeace found that in two thirds of a sample of 56 supermarket products selected, solvents were present. This month, Sun Bear Biofuture will carry out sensory testing with the Centre for Nutrition and Health at Oxford Brookes University, testing consumer responses to its ingredients in food and cosmetic product applications. Validation of its low-capex approach unlocks further opportunities to scale and expand its range of fats and oils, such as developing replacements for palm oil. The company is planning its demo plant for 2027, with capacity for hundreds of tonnes annually. The goal is to scale to industrial levels by 2029, then commence global franchising of its process. Ben Wilding, CEO of Sun Bear Biofuture, said: “Proving our low capex expansion plan was a key goal for this year and we’ve smashed it… The scope to meet customer demand for stable supply chains by producing our cocoa butter and oil range locally, whilst dramatically reducing the impact the industry has on the planet, is hugely exciting.”

Food allergy charity Natasha’s Foundation has today (1 June 2026) announced the launch of Natasha’s Prize, a £10 million investment into global research to ‘create a future without food allergy’. Natasha’s Foundation (previously named The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation) was established by Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse in 2019, after their teenage daughter Natasha died due to an allergic reaction to sesame. Ten years later, the charity is launching this £10 million prize in her name, aiming to unite global scientists to develop solutions to tackle food allergies – which impact around 220 million people worldwide. With a focus on food allergy prevention, the five-year investment represents the largest fund for food allergy research ever awarded in the UK. The prize will explore interventions that could be made from conception to age two that could prevent food allergy from developing. The first 1,000 days have been chosen as this represents a critical window of opportunity for prevention, the charity said. Research has linked rising food allergy rates over the last two decades to several potential environmental factors, including industrial farming methods, climate change and pollution, heavily ultra-processed diets and immune system changes. Scientists worldwide – including allergists, AI data analysts, dieticians, engineers, social and environmental scientist, microbiologists and epidemiologists – have been invited to apply to the Natasha’s Prize initiative from today. Applicants selected by the prize’s scientific advisory panel will be united later this year to brainstorm solutions in a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach. The most promising ideas will then be invited to submit detailed proposals. The foundation’s trustees and advisory panel will select the successful research, with winners to be announced on 1 June 2027. Several retailers have made donations toward the initiative, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Marks & Spencer. The foundation is actively seeking additional investment beyond the £10 million, with ambitions to drive bigger impact. Tanya Ednan-Laperouse said the prize offers a “once-in-a-generation opportunity,” adding: “It will fund research focused on turning back the dial on a disease that affects millions of people both in the UK and around the world, leaving many living in fear”. “We want this prize to galvanise the best science to stop food allergy before it starts, so no other families have to go through the heartbreak we will always endure.” Sir Stephen Holgate, Natasha’s Prize director and clinical professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, said: “With a complex condition like food allergy we need a completely new approach, involving people from all different disciplines and that is what Natasha’s Prize is seeking to achieve”. “There have been so many encouraging new developments in our understanding of food allergy over the past few years. However, we will launch Natasha’s Prize with open minds. The solution could be an intervention that primes the immune system to avoid food allergy, or preventative lifestyle changes. But we don’t want to prejudice the brainstorming process. We want to think creatively, boldly and without constraints. We could go in a completely different direction that we cannot yet anticipate.” Top image: Founders Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse © Natasha's Foundation

Raisio has secured €1.8 million in funding from Finnish innovation agency Business Finland to support a four-year research project aimed at developing functional fibre ingredients from grain processing side streams. The company will invest a further €2.7 million into the initiative, bringing the total value of the project to €4.5 million. The funding forms part of a wider Finnish consortium involving 16 companies and research organisations focused on advancing a sustainable bioeconomy. Collectively, the consortium’s projects are valued at around €12 million and are linked to the international Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts network, which connects universities, research institutes and industrial partners across Europe, North America and Asia. Raisio’s project, titled 'Valorisation of Grain Sidestreams for Functional Fibres,' will focus on creating new ingredients and production technologies from grain-based side streams. The company aims to develop fibre ingredients that offer both nutritional and technological benefits while improving the resource efficiency of grain processing. As part of the project, Raisio will scale up side-stream valorisation technologies at its new pilot plant at the Raisionkaari industrial site, completed earlier this year. The company will also evaluate commercial applications and market opportunities for the resulting ingredients. The pilot plant has previously received support through NextGenerationEU funding administered by Business Finland. Demand for fibre-rich and functional food ingredients has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by consumer interest in gut health, weight management and more sustainable nutrition options. According to Raisio, the new funding represents a significant boost to its innovation activities. The company reported research and development expenditure of €3.2 million in 2025. “Fibre is becoming one of the most important areas in future food innovation, and we see significant international potential in turning grain side streams into high-value ingredients,” said Reetta Andolin, chief innovation officer at Raisio. “This supports both our sustainability targets and our ambition to build new business.” The consortium is coordinated by Åbo Akademi University and also includes University of Turku, Aalto University and 13 industry partners. Raisio said the collaboration will strengthen its international innovation network and support its strategy of becoming a leading European innovator in fibre ingredients. The project is scheduled to begin in 2026 and run until the end of 2029, supporting the long-term growth of the company’s New Business operations.