Nomad Foods has named For Real! Foods and Mia Puccia as the first companies selected to partner with the business through its Future Foods Lab.

The frozen food giant, which owns Birds Eye, Ledo, iglo, Findus and Frikom, launched the venture clienting initiative in partnership with global innovation network Innoget.

Swedish food company For Real! Foods and Spanish manufacturer Mia Puccia were chosen following the Future Foods Lab’s first challenge, Personal Peak, which focused on ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food solutions that support everyday wellbeing.

For Real! Foods specialises in clean-label, allergen-friendly frozen food made with carefully selected ingredients. Its range includes nutritious frozen pizzas designed for consumers seeking convenient, transparent and great-tasting options.

Nomad Foods said the company was selected because of its strong performance in the Swedish market, growth potential and collaborative approach.

Mia Puccia operates an IFS-certified production facility in Alcorcón, Madrid, and specialises in nutrient-dense, clean-label products, with an initial focus on functional sweet snacks and energy balls.

The company was chosen for its combination of food technology, global culinary influences and applied food science expertise.

Nomad Foods will now move forward with both partners into a concept development phase, focused on sharpening their propositions and improving the consumer experience.

If successful, the concepts will then move into test-and-learn validation in-market.

Nomad Foods chief RDQ officer Carly Arnold said: “When we launched the Future Foods Lab last year, our ambition was clear: to fast-track market-ready solutions to real business challenges, and to identify partners who are already proving what’s possible.

“Our Personal Peak challenge was the first test of that ambition, and both For Real! Foods and Mia Puccia showcased the type of agile, delivery-focused credentials that we want to work with.

“They combine strong technical capability with a clear understanding of consumer needs and a genuine openness to collaboration. We’re excited to move forward into the next phase together.”

For Real! Foods co-founder and chief executive Daniel Nowak said the business was “genuinely impressed” by Nomad Foods’ “friendly, holistic and ambitious approach”.

He added that team members across Nomad Foods were driving the programme forward.

Mia Puccia founder Luis Felipe Rego said: “What stands out most about the Future Foods Lab is that Nomad Foods treats us as a genuine partner, not just another startup in a programme.

“Their willingness to open doors across their R&D, quality, and marketing teams has accelerated our innovation in ways we couldn’t have achieved on our own.”

The Future Foods Lab forms part of Nomad Foods’ wider innovation strategy and is designed to explore market-ready startup solutions to key business challenges, which can then be piloted and scaled across Europe.

The announcement follows the launch of the lab’s second challenge, Culinary Creativity, which is calling for new ideas that help consumers cook tasty meals at home with less effort.

Startups interested in the challenge have been invited to join a webinar on 6 May 2026, ahead of the application deadline later that month.

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