Food Taipei Mega Shows 2026 took place in Taiwan’s capital from 24-27 June, bringing together global leaders from across the entire food industry supply chain to showcase ideas, products, and opportunities for the future food system.
On the agenda for day 2 of this year’s show was the Food Taipei Forum, co-organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Food Industry Research and Development Institute. The theme for this year was Beyond Progress to Evolution – discussing how precision nutrition, sustainable development, and disruptive business models are acting as the gears driving the future of Taiwan’s food industry.
*Of particular note to this Anglophone was the use of live artificial intelligence (AI) translation technology making the discussion accessible across nations, offering translation into Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean directly on your phone screen!
FIRDI senior research scientist, Li-Teng Chen, kicked off discussion with a deconstructed outline of shifting trends in the global precision nutrition market.
“In an era of AI where everyone can access vast amounts of information – with policies changing, technologies evolving and consumer preferences shifting – how will the food industry move toward a new, higher-level ecosystem? This is what we refer to as the global transformation of precision foods,” said Chen.
Chen described the precision health ecosystem as driven by four pillars:
- Policy – global regulations on packaging and labelling are changing, it’s not just about setting rules anymore, but redefining health
- Consumer demand – uptake in GLP-1 usage and demand for biological protein rich functional diets is reshaping the value of health
- Technology and science – technology is helping consumers define suitability for themselves, by providing measurable and trackable information on health, ingredients and production
- AI and intelligence – how do industry and consumers make decisions about precision health and food moving forwards? Reverse engineering food to customise value and personalise consumer experience
She stated personalised products are designed around consumer demand, but warned the products needed to be meaningfully connected to the outcomes consumers care about – the impact of effective communication between the company and the customer.
“Measurable results, sensory input, and adaptability to daily life – only by combining these three factors does healthy precision food consumption become sustainable for consumers. That’s also why you’ll find the specifics of that transition differ from country to country,” said Chen.
“In the past we judged by experience, now we measure with data. The same food can have different effects on different people, and the introduction of continuous monitoring in wearable technology means this data is now available to individuals.
“A promising trend doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a market. So the future competition in food will come down to not only the product itself, but how it links to health outcomes and how that connection is communicated and scaled. In an ecosystem of future precision foods, you’ll find your position becoming progressively more solid,” she advised.
A key guest speaker at the Forum was Spain’s Agrifood Industry Research Association (AINIA) director of innovation, Andres Pascual Vidal.
AINIA is a Spanish private non-profit technology centre, positioning itself at the forefront of the protein innovation race. With over 300 staff and 15,000 square meters of facilities, the organisation provides R&D, consultancy, lab analysis, and training for industry needs.
Pascual Vidal discussed how the convergence of artificial intelligence, computational biology, synthetic biology and advanced biological validation models is transforming the way companies discover, design, manufacture and validate the next generation of food proteins.
He made the case that a new generation of protein delivery is taking the world by storm, a strategic response to global challenges. With companies using technology to transform biodiversity into a searchable database, AI is able to support the design of customised proteins by optimising structure for specific purposes.
“Sustainability concerns, an ageing global population, and food security and resilience struggles have shown how vulnerable the global food supply chain can be, so we need to produce more proteins in a very efficient way. Not only quantity, but with a good traditional profile, or specific functionalities providing health benefits,” said Pascual Vidal.
“The future of protein innovation will not depend on a single technology or production platform. Instead, we are moving towards an ecosystem where digital technologies and biotechnology converge to expand not only where proteins come from, but also what proteins can do.”
He highlighted companies across Europe using precision fermentation and molecular farming as the manufacturing layer of precision protein design – including Perfect Day, Vivici, Every, Oobli, and Nuritas – and discussed how advanced in vitro models could be used to validate the performance of precision proteins within the human body.
The Food Taipei Forum exhibited a consistent message, with experts in the sector anticipating the future of food will be shaped by the convergence of data, biotechnology and artificial intelligence – with collaboration across research, industry and government proving essential to bringing these innovations to market.
Taiwan is working to position itself as a regional hub for this type of food innovation, with Food Taipei 2026 offering a platform for international leaders to establish the next generation of the global food system. Check out the Australian presence and key trends of the Show, including protein-packed snacks, precision nutrition, AI-driven manufacturing and bold new flavours.
Food Taipei Mega Shows will return in 2027, taking place 23-27 June.
