Product innovation takes centre stage at German food fair

Product innovations and consumers trends for the coming years in the food and beverage industry are in the central focus for visitors at Anuga in Germany.

Plant-based food solutions, new ingredients such as hemp or insects and some other alternatives to meat have attracted visitors at the fair.

Organic, frozen and halal foods are also in the display to attract buyers.

“We are here not only to sell our products but also to see what others do,” said Mateo Muela Rodriguez, export manager of Mueloliva, a Spanish company that produces virgin olive oil without using heat or water.

It is a platform for knowledge transfer and new impulses, he said. Another Spanish company has come up with recipes made of onion.

More than 165,000 visitors and 7,500 exhibitors are attending the world’s biggest food and beverage fair Anuga in Cologne. Of them, 90 percent of exhibitors and 74 percent of visitors are from abroad. 

Anuga has another number to celebrate as this year’s edition marks the 100th anniversary of the fair.

Anne Schumacher, a senior official of Koelnmesse which organises the fair, said for the first time Anuga was offering participation opportunities for start-up food companies.

“About 100 young and innovative companies from around 25 countries will present their product innovations to the global food trade audience,” Schumacher told The Daily Star.

She said investors, multipliers and incubators can be teamed up with start-ups to explore ways to shape up the future food industry.

Though dozens of companies from each of 100 countries have been participating at the fair, Bangladesh remains present poorly. Pran-RFL Group has been displaying its products in two stalls and Sajeeb Corporation in a small stall.

“It’s a platform of different countries where visitors and exhibitors gather. We know from here what the consumers want and about the future food industry,” said Md Mizanur Rahman, chief operating officer for export of Pran.