Forward Fooding Blog Feed
A Reflection on the FoodTech 500: It’s Time to Talk About the Companies We Couldn’t Rank
Seven editions of the FoodTech 500 are behind us. The eighth is unfolding. After reviewing thousands of applications, cycle after cycle, hearing feedback from the sector, and, most importantly, reflecting on what can make the rankings better and what we have been missing all these years, we want to acknowledge [...]
Meet the 140+ Companies that Made their FoodTech 500 Debut
Every year, the FoodTech 500 lists who stayed relevant and who just arrived. The 7th edition welcomed 140+ first-time finalists into a cohort of 500, and they tell you something about where food innovation is heading: upstream, science-first, and increasingly global. From a New Zealand startup extracting the world’s most [...]
Global Ashwagandha Puzzle: When Ancient Ingredients Meet Modern Regulation
Ashwagandha has gone from a niche Ayurvedic herb in India to one of the most mainstream ingredients in FoodTech. You now find it in drinks, gummies, snack bars, and even alcohol alternatives. Yet, behind the hype lies a complex reality: strong market traction, but uneven scientific consensus, volatile supply [...]
The FoodTech 500 Alumni News Round-up (April 2026 Edition)
Check out what some of the FoodTech 500 Alumni have been up to lately: LA VIE | Enters the tofu category with the debut of a tofu product range, following a brand refresh. Read more NORDETECT | Launches Nordetect Analytics Platform, a cloud-based analytics software that enables greenhouse and [...]
Inside the Biggest AgriFoodTech Patent Wars
Five days were all it took for a near-$400 million merger to collapse and for a lawsuit to land. When Finnish biotech Onego Bio and California's The EVERY Company sat down to discuss joining forces in September 2025, the deal looked like the kind of consolidation a maturing industry needs. [...]
Snacking Smarter: pladis on the Second Edition of Its FoodTech Accelerator Programme
Tim Ingmire is Vice President of Global Innovation & Technology at pladis, the global snacking company behind beloved brands including McVitie's, GODIVA and Ülker. Operating across 27 bakeries in 11 countries and reaching consumers in over 110 markets, pladis brings both the scale and the ambition to meaningfully shape the [...]
