Review of General Food and Beverage Exhibition 2013 and Anuga FoodTec 2012, Cologne, Germany

The 32nd Anuga (General Food and Beverage Exhibition) in 2013, the world’s largest and most important meeting place for the food and beverage sectors. About 6,700 suppliers will come together with around 160,000 potential customers from the food trade and the catering sector. Anuga is a central business and communications platform that brings together the suppliers and top-decision makers of the global retail trade and foodservice/catering markets. It is where innovative new products debut and trends take off.

Anuga’s profile will be further sharpened by the expansion and accentuation of its clear trade fair concept and new modules. As a result, Anuga will remain the most up-to-date and therefore the most important information and sourcing platform in the food business.

Ten trade shows under one roof – Anuga’s successful trade fair concept remains the same. Since 2003 Anuga has consisted of ten trade shows that expertly and internationally represent the ten largest core segments in the food and beverage sector. This concept, which results in an easy-to-understand structure with clearly defined topics, has been the foundation of the Anuga success story.

Starting in 2013 fair trade products will be a part of the ten trend themes at Anuga. The list of Anuga trend themes will be expanded to include another trend theme. Other trend themes include: Gourmet Products and Regional Specialties, Halal Food, Organic Products, Vegetarian Products, Health & Functional Food, Kosher Products, Finger Food, Private Labels and Ingredients.

Global new-product tracker Innova presented its own research findings by continent/international region to show just how much flavor trends vary around the world. Among trending-tastes highlights: cherry and lime are popular in North America, watermelon and grape in the Middle East, and peach and lychee in Africa.

mango mayoIn the realm of fruits and vegetables, two pieces of produce are gaining recognition for their versatility. Mango, while a mainstream favorite for many juice and smoothie lines, is showing up in unexpected places, such as Cameroon Mango Vinegar from Belgian company Belberry’s Royal Selections line, and Daumantu Mango Majo, a flavored mayonnaise from Lithuanian condiment producer Daumantai. The Philippines touted mango as one of its top foods and flavors, where the tropical fruit got the spotlight among fresh and dried fruit offerings as well as beverages of all walks.

Vegetable, beetroot shines in a number of products, thanks in part to its rich reddish-pink coloring as well as its subtle sweetness and healthful profile. Greece’s Hellenic Heritage turns the root into a smooth, spreadable pate, while Welsh producer Cradoc’s creates a beetroot and garlic cracker as part of its line of savory crackers and biscuits (which also includes such pairings as spinach and celery seed, pear and Earl Grey, chile with garlic and ginger, and others). And Croatian beverage brand Lovella includes in its line a beetroot-apple juice and, for bolder palates, pure beetroot juice.

Anuga FoodTec 2012
The Anuga FoodTec (International Supplier Fair for the Food and Beverage Industry) in 2012, offers international food manufacturing companies an opportunity to view the latest technologies dedicated to food and beverage processing, packaging and food safety. The event also includes specialist forums and conference sessions. The international trade fair for food and drink technology is promoted as: A meeting point for decision-makers. A place for visionaries. A location for specialists.

Anuga always has been the perfect place to discover novelties and innovations in packaging technology. Not the graphics, not the pure design, neither the printing nor marketing tricks, but solely the technology of packaging.The top trends are the technologies to conserve resources and the use of renewable materials, as still a number of unresolved issues screams for a solution.

The worldwide food and beverage industry meets up every three years at the Anuga FoodTec. Over 42,000 trade visitors from 131 countries spend four days informing themselves about the latest developments in the food processing, food packaging, food safety, food ingredients and services & solution sectors, which are represented by over 1,300 exhibitors. Whether for meat or dairy products, drinks or frozen food, for bakery products or basic foodstuffs – at the Anuga FoodTec, the visitors can find solutions and ideas for all matters to do with the production and packaging of all types of food.

Anuga´s trade fair concept is unique, bringing supply and demand together in 10 specialized trade shows under one roof. It helps sharpen each sector´s profile and generates valuable synergies at the same time. In addition, Anuga´s nine trend topics focus on all of the key trends of the future.

As the leading global trade fair, the Anuga FoodTec is the most important driving force of the international food and beverage industry. It is the only trade fair in the world that covers all aspects of food production. Whether machines or systems, packaging material and analytics, ingredients or services – the industry presents their innovations and technological visions at the Anuga FoodTec. It offers all solutions for all food industries – in a concentrated and targeted manner!

People are aware that over one-third of the food produced worldwide perishes before it ever reaches the consumer. In view of such statistics, it is easy to see what role packaging might play. This “worldview” recognises the vital role packaging technology plays, but we also recognise that it should be as economical, green and efficient as possible.

Take the question of packaging made of renewable materials, for example. PLA and PET made of plant materials are a hot topic right now, since they have a much smaller carbon footprint than plastics based on oil. At present, the production of “green” PET still relies on either molasses from the sugar industry or sugarcane juice – as in Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle packaging. Research is still under way to ascertain whether by-products from agriculture and forestry, such as wood chippings, maize straw and wheat straw, might also be used. The presence of plant materials in PET bottles does not alter their chemical composition. there is no requirement for a separate recycling process here, either.

History of Anuga
The General Food and Beverage Exhibition, or Anuga for short, is the world’s largest trade fair for the food industry and the food industry. It takes place every two years in Cologne and brings together ten trade fairs for different food categories. The organizer is Koelnmesse.

Anuga claims to be the central trading place for manufacturers, importers and wholesalers as well as decision-makers in the food industry; it is a trade fair without public days.

As the leading international trade fair, Anuga wants to bring together all the important suppliers and buyers for retail and gastronomy and the out-of-home market as well as online trade and offer a representative breadth and depth of the global food industry, divided into ten trade fairs under one roof. This structure is intended to sharpen the profile of each trade fair and at the same time lead to synergies.

The ten trade fairs are:
Anuga Fine Food: Delicatessen, gourmet and staple foods
Anuga Drinks: drinks
Anuga Chilled & Fresh Food: Fresh convenience products, fresh delicatessen, fish, fruit and vegetables
Anuga Meat: meat, sausage, game and poultry
Anuga Frozen Food: Frozen food and ice cream products
Anuga Dairy: milk and dairy products
Anuga Bread & Bakery Bread, baked goods, spreads
Anuga Organic: organic products
Anuga Hot Beverages: tea, coffee and cocoa
Anuga Culinary Concepts: Culinary, technology and equipment for the catering / out-of-home market

In 2003, the Anuga concept “10 trade fairs under one roof” was implemented for the first time in the new exhibition center.

In 2005, the number of exhibitors increased by five percent compared to the previous event. 6607 suppliers from 95 countries, 83 percent of them from abroad, and around 163,000 trade visitors from 175 countries were at Anuga.

In 2009 around 153,500 trade visitors came from over 180 countries, 61 percent of them from abroad. The number of exhibitors with 6522 suppliers from 97 countries remained unchanged. Trend topics were convenience, well food and “free-from” products, as well as “halal food”. The industry also made a name for itself with the topics of corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

In 2011, 6,743 exhibitors from 97 countries and 154,516 trade visitors from 185 countries were at Anuga from October 8th to 12th. The final of the Chef of the Year competition has been held at the trade fair every two years since 2011. The finalists will be determined through preliminary decisions that will be held in different cities in German-speaking countries.

At the 32nd Anuga in 2013, 6627 exhibitors presented their products and applications on 152,000 square meters of net exhibition space. 154,642 visitors came over the five days of the fair, 101,809 of them from abroad.

The 33rd Anuga took place from October 10th to 14th, 2015 and set new records. 7,063 exhibitors from 108 countries (foreign share 89%) presented their innovations to around 160,000 trade visitors from 192 countries (foreign share 68%) on 284,000 square meters of gross exhibition space.

The 34th Anuga from October 7th to 11th 2017 set a new record with more than 7,400 exhibiting companies from 107 countries, around 165,000 trade visitors from 198 countries took advantage of this offer.

History of Anuga FoodTec
International Supplier Fair for the Food and Beverage Industry is the leading international trade fair for the food and beverage industry. It covers all aspects of food production – from process technology to filling and packaging technology, from packaging materials to ingredients and food safety, as well as all innovations from all areas of food production. Anuga FoodTec is structured into eight product segments: food processing, food packaging, safety and analytics, digitalisation, automation, intralogistics, environment and energy, science and pioneering.

The fair takes place every three years in Cologne, the next time from 23 to 26 March 2021. The event is organised by Koelnmesse, and the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft e.V. (German Agricultural Society) is the conceptual sponsor. (DLG).

Originating from the former Anuga-Technica and DLG-FoodTec, Anuga FoodTec has been providing a comprehensive and process-oriented overview of all technologies required for food production since 1996. Since 2011, Koelnmesse has maintained a strategic partnership for Anuga FoodTec with the “Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute” (PMMI), USA the organiser of Pack Expo and Expo Pack. In April 2016, Koelnmesse also entered into a cooperation with Fiere di Parma in order to jointly organise the Cibus Tec food technology in Parma in the future.

In 2012, 42,986 visitors (from 126 countries) came to Anuga FoodTec to gather information from a total of 1,289 exhibitors (from 41 countries) on a gross area of 127,000 m². In 2012, the fair again recorded an increase in exhibitors (over 10 %) and visitors (over 27 %). In 2015, the trade fair set a new exhibitor and visitor record. 1,479 exhibitors (from 49 countries) – an increase of 15 percent – exhibited on a gross area of 129,700 m². With 45,604 experts (from 139 countries), the number of trade visitors increased by 6 percent. The proportion of international visitors was over 54 per cent. In 2018, 1,657 exhibitors and over 50,000 trade visitors (from 152 countries) came to the fair.

With its process-oriented, cross-sector approach that covers all kinds of raw materials, the Anuga FoodTec provides an overview of the technologies of the entire manufacturing and packaging process in the production of food and drink. The Anuga FoodTec’s range of services is arranged in separate segments:

Process technology
Filling and packaging technology
Automation, software, control equipment
Laboratory technology, analytics, biotechnology and quality equipment
Operation materials, environmental technology
Refrigeration and air-conditioning technology
Conveying, transport and storage facilities, logistics, intra logistics
Ingredients and auxiliary materials
Components, assemblies, surface technology, accessories
Service firms, organisations, publishers
Packaging materials, packaging, packaging aids

All sectors of the food and beverage industry (management and employees involved in research & development, design, manufacturing/production, quality control and maintenance, purchasing, labor, logistic, sales and marketing), large-scale butchers and bakeries, food trade and other decision-makers from the food industry. Pet-Food industry.