Food Matters Live Podcast

Twenty years ago, roughly eight scientific papers a year were being published on the gut microbiome. Scientists barely knew it existed. Today it is one of the most actively researched areas in all of human biology, and what it's revealing is that this community of trillions of microbes living in your lower intestine is not just relevant to digestion. It's connected to your immune system, your brain, your metabolism, your mood, your response to stress, and your long-term risk of many major diseases. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, two scientists approach the gut microbiome from very different angles. Dr Emily Leeming, microbiome scientist, registered dietitian and author of Genius Gut and Fibre Power, opens with a compelling and accessible masterclass on what the gut microbiome is, why it matters, and what we can actually do about it. Dr Umar Jan, President of European Operations at Sabinsa, then presents the science behind two of Sabinsa's biotics. His presentation addresses a question that sits at the heart of the postbiotic category: when you inactivate a probiotic, what exactly are you left with, and can you prove it's doing something useful? If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Neil Rankin applied for a job at Pret after the 2008 financial crisis closed his sandwich business. He didn't get it. What followed was seven years in professional kitchens, a Michelin-level career built around fire and meat, and then slowly, a growing conviction that the most important thing he could do with everything he'd learned was to stop cooking meat altogether. Symplicity started in a home kitchen during Covid, hand-making sausages and shaping burgers with an ice cream tub lid. Its first customers were Soho House, Dishoom and Gordon Ramsay. It is now in Waitrose and 3,000 restaurants across the UK and every product is still made by hand, using wild lacto-fermentation, everyday vegetables, miso, flaxseed and flour. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, Neil sits down for an extended conversation about the journey that brought him here and what he's learned along the way. He explains why he thinks everything truly delicious in the world has been fermented and why he believes the plant-based industry's fatal mistake was starting with bitter proteins and working backwards. He opens up about the genuine tension of being a meat eater building a meat alternative and why retail remains the hardest frontier of all. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Most food manufacturers are running their product development on spreadsheets. Nutritional values in one file, allergen data in another, recipes in a shared drive, submission forms being manually rekeyed the night before a customer deadline. But the pace of change facing food manufacturers right now is unlike anything in recent memory. HFSS reformulations, UPF scrutiny, carbon labelling, gut health claims, retailer-specific submission formats that change without warning, and behind every single one of those challenges, a development process that in most businesses still runs on fragile, disconnected data. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our event at London’s Olympia, the case is made that a significant portion of the pressure that technical and NPD teams are feeling isn't coming from the market or from regulation, but from out-dated background systems. Could it be that in a decade where AI will increasingly depend on the quality of the data underneath it, the manufacturers who treat product data as a strategic asset rather than an administrative byproduct will be the ones who pull ahead? If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Consumers say they want natural. But do they want it enough to accept a less vibrant colour, a shorter shelf life, or a higher price? And when regulation forces the change anyway, how do you bring consumers with you when they weren't asking for it in the first place? Clean label means something very different to a Michelin-trained chef building a fermented meat alternative from scratch, to a bakery NPD manager reformulating existing lines away from artificial colours, to a global consumer science director at one of the world's largest confectionery companies navigating the cocoa crisis. What all three have in common is the same uncomfortable truth: natural is harder, less stable, more expensive and less forgiving than artificial - and the consumer rarely gives you credit for it unless you tell them. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, our expert panel dives into the world of clean label, from the practical realities of moving from artificial to natural colours, allergen considerations, shelf life constraints, and why consumers may accept a dimmer colour once you explain the reason. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Only 4% of UK adults meet the recommended 30 grams of fibre per day. The average intake is 16 grams, which is barely half the target. And this isn't a new problem. It's been consistent for years, across every age group and demographic, with no sign of closing. What makes that statistic more troubling is what sits behind it: most people don't even know what the recommendation is. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, a panel of specialists look at the fibre gap from every angle: policy, science, product development, supply chain and consumer behaviour. We hear from a nutrition researcher from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, who explains how Denmark's Whole Grain Partnership drove consumption to 63 grams within four years. And we learn why fibre reformulation is technically more complex than it looks. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

A chilli con carne for four people carries a carbon footprint of 6kg. The same meal, made with upcycled sunflower protein and plant-based seasoning, comes in at seventy grams. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, Frank Lantz describes how he came to food innovation from Michelin-trained fine dining. His view is that the food industry is sitting at one of its biggest inflection points in a century, that the conversation about how we grow, cook and eat is overdue, and that chefs who understand flavour from the inside out are better placed than most to solve for it. He talks about the moment he decided to step out of restaurant kitchens and into food innovation, why organic is a proof of concept rather than a marketing badge, and why he believes the brands that make the most sustainable products, without asking the consumer to sacrifice anything, will be the ones that win. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Salted caramel spent roughly 50 years travelling from a Parisian chocolatier to a British supermarket staple. Nduja took a decade. Kimchi felt like an overnight success, but it wasn't. So when a flavour trend lands on a developer's radar, how do you know whether you're early, right on time, or already too late? The answer, our expert panel suggests, is rarely found in data alone. It lives in the gap between what a trend tracker can tell you and what a developer's gut tells them. And knowing how to triangulate the two is one of the most underrated skills in food innovation. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, we explore how both a major retailer and a multi-brand manufacturer approach the now, next and future framework for flavour trend tracking. Our panel debates the cuisines that have genuinely crossed over and the ones that are still waiting. And they dig into the tension between authenticity and accessibility, the power of the silent ingredient, and why calling something a tortilla instead of a Spanish omelette can be the difference between a product that flies and one that sits. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

Global demand for protein has been rising for sixty years and shows no sign of stopping. But the way we're producing it is running into hard limits, environmental, ethical and economic, at exactly the moment that consumers have decided protein is the most important thing on the label. So where does that leave manufacturers, retailers and innovators trying to navigate a market that wants more protein, cheaper, more sustainably, and still delicious? In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, three experts try to answer that question. They discuss overgrazing, marine over-exploitation, and the opportunity in novel proteins. They also talk about how constraints on animal protein are opening a window for plant-based innovation that the industry hasn't had before. And they discuss the future of soy protein, all with one thing front of mind - the products produced need to be attractive to consumers. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

What's the next Dubai chocolate? And more importantly, how do you know whether to back it before it's mainstream, or whether it will ever get there at all? The speed at which flavour trends now travel has fundamentally changed the job of everyone in NPD. What used to take decades can now arrive, peak and fade within a single season. Social media accelerates trends and creates consumer expectations about flavour before a product even hits the shelf. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London Olympia event, five flavour and innovation specialists debate what all of this means in practice. They unpack why flavour is still king, and why the days of designing something that appeals to everybody are effectively over. And they wrestle with the most loaded question in innovation: is the era of the perennial core flavour over, or will the industry always find new ones? If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

How is AI influencing innovation in the food industry? In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded live at our event at Olympia in London, we try to map out the full picture. Our guest speaker is Alberto Prado, former Global Head of R&D Digital & Partnerships at Unilever. Alberto believes the food industry is facing the most volatile, fast-moving, expensive and demanding environment it has ever operated in. But, he argues, the tools it's using to respond are largely unchanged since the 1980s. He maps out the full picture - what AI is already doing inside large FMCG organisations, the five barriers he believes are getting in the way, and why he argues companies that treat AI as infrastructure rather than a feature, will be shaping this industry for the next decade. His argument is that most food businesses are using AI to write better emails and build slightly faster dashboards, while mistaking that for transformation. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

When a female consumer walks into a shop asking for help with their hormones, their sleep or their fertility, how confident can they be that what they're sold is actually backed by evidence? It's a question a growing wave of informed, sceptical consumers is now asking louder than ever. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our London event in 2026, we have a frank conversation about women’s health and what evidence-based retail actually looks like from the inside. We hear the case made for personalised nutrition - not as a premium niche, but as a genuine public health opportunity - and learn about one of the most quietly significant shifts in women's supplement science: the move from folic acid to methylated folate in prenatal products. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com

In this episode, we enter the Flavour and Colour Lab at Food Matters Live London 2026. Five conversations with the companies shaping what food tastes, looks and feels like. From raw material shortages and botanical extracts, to a Dragon's Den success story built on TikTok trends and a bath bomb-shaped meal base that's found its way into Ocado. We find out how the raw material pressures reshaping the flavour industry right now are leading to new product developments. We get the full story behind the bath bomb-shaped meal base that started on TikTok, appeared on Dragon's Den, and just launched in a major supermarket. And how a baking powder that's been around for 175 years, is re-inventing itself. If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com We would like to clarify that, due to an internal communication error regarding session timings, Tina Faghihi-Hallam from Flavour Bombs was unable to join the live panel discussion at Food Matters Live as scheduled. Tina was present at the event and ready to participate, and her absence from the stage was not due to any fault on her part.

Recorded live on stage at Food Matters Live, at London's Olympia London, this is the session that opened the whole event, and it set the tone perfectly. Food historian Annie Gray and Rob Lowery, VP of Marketing at PepsiCo UK, Ireland and Europe, sit down for a wide-ranging fireside conversation on where consumer food culture has come from, where it's heading, and how to tell the difference between a genuine trend and a flash in the pan. They cover how the health concerns driving food choices today, from protein to gut health, are less new than we think, and what that tells us about what's likely to stick Why personalised nutrition is still accelerating, and what GLP-1 medications are doing to consumer habits and food industry priorities And how fragmented eating patterns, demographic shifts, and the rise of remote working are reshaping the occasions food is designed around Find out about upcoming events at foodmatterslive.com .

In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we explore the NPD Discovery Zone at Food Matters Live in London's Olympia. It's the section of the show floor where the next generation of food ingredients and technology is being shown for the first time. Through four conversations with four companies, we try to answer one question: where will the food of the future actually come from? We learn about turning CO₂ directly into food ingredients, recovering high-protein, high-fibre ingredients from the side-stream of the brewing industry, an automated harvester that recovers broccoli stems left in the field after harvest, and we meet the people behind a food lifecycle management software that brings NPD, finance, and technical teams onto one platform from concept to launch. Food Matters Live brings together the food and drink industry's brightest minds across innovation, sustainability, health, and technology. Find out more and register for upcoming events on our website.

Recorded live on the floor of Food Matters Live at Olympia, London, this episode is a snapshot of the conversations happening right now across the food industry. We catch up with speakers fresh from the stage or on their stand at the event: a food historian making the case for forgotten ingredients, a Michelin-starred chef turning industrial waste into meal kits, a consumer researcher on why flavour will always win, and two researchers pushing back on the way we talk about ultra-processed food. We hear from food historian Annie Grey on what sourdough bread actually tells us about class, why 'authenticity' is a dirty word in food marketing, and the forgotten British ingredients that deserve a comeback Frank Lantz, Michelin-starred chef and founder of Uhhmami on the waste he witnessed in professional kitchens, and why upcycled sunflower protein might be one of the most practical sustainability solutions on the market right now And researchers Chris Bryant and Jules Griffin debate UPF. Food Matters Live brings together the food and drink industry's brightest minds across innovation, sustainability, health, and technology. Find out more and register for upcoming events on our website.

in this episode, we’re bringing together four of the most compelling talks from our archive, each focused on a different aspect of the same issue - sustainability in food production. We hear about a breathing cultivation system that captures carbon dioxide from any industrial source and converts it directly into microalgae-based food ingredients. We get into the science of upcycling food, that’s ingredients that would otherwise leave the food system entirely, given a second life in something people actually buy and eat. And we get into the detail of the food industry's net zero targets, what they are and how to get there. it’s clear there’s still work to do across the whole food chain. None of this is solved. But all of it is moving, and faster than the headlines often suggest.

This episode brings together four conversations on the topic of GLP-1 the science, the market data, the human impact, and the long-term strategic picture. We hear from scientists, market strategists, clinicians and food innovators on what GLP-1 actually means for the food industry, and what it means for the people eating differently because of it. Some market data suggests households on GLP-1 medications are spending 6% less on food overall. The consumer segment using these drugs in the UK is already roughly the same size as the vegan and vegetarian market. How the food industry responds to this disruptive influence remains an open question, although serious moves are already being made.

When did healthy become synonymous with sacrifice? And is that finally starting to change? Consumer expectations have shifted dramatically. Protein-enriched yoghurts, fibre-packed snacks and gut health dairy products are no longer niche, they're mainstream. But the challenge of giving consumers what they want is no small one. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with AGRANA Fruit , we unpack both the trends and the technical realities behind functional nutrition in dairy, ice cream and beverages. We explore the concept of permissible indulgence, the technical challenge of creating fruit concentrates that maintain their flavour in the final product, and why clean label isn't just about removing E-numbers. AGRANA Fruit will be at Food Matters Live in London on 3rd and 4th June. Visit foodmatterslive.com to register . AGRANA Fruit AGRANA Fruit offers a wide range of creative and innovative solutions for the food and beverage industry. The fruit solutions deliver high quality fruit, which is expertly prepared to be used in the dairy, ice cream, bakery, food service and beverage industries. Our product range includes fruit preparations, brown flavor preparations, preparations with inclusions, cereals, grains & seeds, savory preparations, sauces & toppings, syrups & smoothie bases, and frozen fruits. We have a truly global presence with 26 production sites on all continents. AGRANA Fruit’s product development work incorporates the latest global nutritional and health trends. AGRANA Fruit is part of the AGRANA Group - an internationally oriented Austrian company which converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and numerous industrial intermediate products.

For every manufacturer trying to reduce saturated fat, cut sugar or lower their carbon footprint, there's a version of the same conversation: yes, but will it still taste right? That question is where most reformulation projects live or die. The pressure on food manufacturers has never been more multidirectional. HFSS compliance, sustainability targets, cost of living, supply chain volatility, fluctuating cocoa prices - and through all of it, the non-negotiable that overrides everything else: if it doesn't taste good, no one will buy it twice. The question is how to take things out without taking away what consumers love? In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with AAK , we explore what "less is more" actually looks like in practice. And we learn about some extraordinary solutions. From a butter replacer with a carbon footprint one eighth that of butter, to products designed specifically to reduce unplanned downtime on confectionery lines. AAK will be at Food Matters Live in London on June 3rd and 4th June. AAK AAK are experts in plant-based oils and fats, the value-adding ingredients in many products people love to consume. They make these products better tasting, healthier, and more sustainable. At the heart of AAK’s offer is Customer Co-Development, combining their desire to understand what Making Better Happen™ means for each customer, with the unique flexibility of their production assets, and deep knowledge of products and industries, including Chocolate & Confectionery, Bakery, Dairy, Plant-based Foods, Special Nutrition, Foodservice, and Personal Care. Meet AAK at Food Matters Live in Ascot and Dublin where they will be showcasing their innovative ingredient solutions in their technical tasting and insight session.

Protein has been one of the dominant stories in food and drink for years, but the conversation has moved on. It's no longer just about adding protein, now it's about being deliberate: where it comes from, how it functions, and what it actually delivers. Plant protein sits right at the heart of that shift, and that’s the focus of this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with Bunge . But not all plant proteins are created equal. Choosing the right one for your formulation requires a much more targeted approach than it once did. So which proteins deserve the food industry's attention right now, and why? Bunge At Bunge (NYSE: BG), our purpose is to connect farmers to consumers to deliver essential food, feed and fuel to the world. As a premier agribusiness solutions provider, our team of 37,000 dedicated employees partner with farmers across the globe to move agricultural commodities from where they’re grown to where they’re needed - in faster, smarter, and more efficient ways. We are a world leader in grain origination, storage, distribution, oilseed processing and refining, offering a broad portfolio of plant-based oils, fats, and proteins.