• Image: AIP
    Image: AIP
  • Image: AIP
    Image: AIP
Close×

Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL) has recognised 50 innovative companies from across the Australian food, beverage, packaging and agribusiness sectors in the fourth edition of its innovation book.

Each year the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) collaborates with FIAL to develop the book, nominating Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Award winners for recognition. For the 2019 edition, six PIDA winners have been recognised in the top 50 and include: BioPak, ICEE Containers, Caps and Closures, Result Group, Lactote and 8 Kangaroos.

The book, Celebrating Australian Food and Agribusiness Innovations, showcases diverse innovations from across Australia’s food and agribusiness industry and the top 50 innovative companies were chosen by an expert panel of judges from industry, academia and research.

The FIAL team has searched far and wide to find some of the best innovations in the country — from small businesses to multinationals, the book showcases 50 innovations from across the whole value chain. From sugarcane packaging to bone broth crisps, the exciting innovations featured in the book are aligned to the five global food and agribusiness megatrends identified by CSIRO. These are: a less predictable planet, health on the mind, choosy customers, one world, and smarter food chains.

FIAL created the book to share the success stories of companies that overcame challenges, in order to inspire the industry and to motivate change. To order your copy of the 4th Edition Innovations Book, visit https://fial.com.au/celebrating-innovations-19

Food & Drink Business

Tasmanian whisky producer Lark Distilling Co has closed FY26 with fourth quarter net sales of $5 million, up 44 per cent on the prior corresponding period (pcp), taking full year net sales to $18 million, a 15 per cent increase on FY25.

Lupin protein company, Wide Open Agriculture (WOA), has started winding down its German production facility as it shifts to a contract manufacturing model, with the ASX-listed business ending the June quarter with $1.27 million in cash and roughly 2.1 quarters of funding.

Every three years, Australia's food and beverage manufacturing industry gathers at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for foodpro – and this year Food & Drink Business was there as an exclusive media partner of the foodpro Industry Hub. In two minutes, here's a taste of some of what caught our eye across the show floor – the latest in processing and packaging, automation and robotics, food safety, sustainability and AI, and the people behind it.