The trade show Anuga FoodTec will run March 20 to 23, 2018, at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. Nearly 1,700 suppliers from more than 50 countries will present their new products for the production and packaging of all types of food and beverage. The exhibits will be accompanied by a technical program that includes workshops, conferences and guided tours.
“Traditionally process technology has been the most represented section at the trade fair,” says Katharina Hamma, Chief Operating Officer, Koelnmesse GmbH. “This year there is greater emphasis on food safety and quality management, as well as food ingredients. Visitors experience the entire production cycle, from how basic ingredients are processed and how a product is made, all the way to the primary and secondary packing of the finished product. Nothing less than the entire production chain is depicted at the trade fair.”
The theme of this year’s exhibition and technical program is resource efficiency. The theme will be showcased through topics such as optimizing production processes, reducing energy and water consumption, and minimizing food loss through ingredient, process and package technology. Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (DLG), the German agricultural society, is organizing the program.
“The growing demand for commodities and energy sources worldwide and the increasing urbanization are compelling us to review our present behavior and economic activity,” says Simone Schiller, Managing Director-Competence Center Food at DLG. “Careful, and at the same time efficient, management of natural resources is the key competence of sustainable societies, societies that are fit for the future. The exhibitors this year will be presenting a range of solutions showing how competitiveness can be strengthened and how the use of energy and water as well as food losses during production can be reduced.”
Complementing this theme is next-generation robotics technology. The show will offer demonstrations of robots at every step of the manufacturing chain, from incoming raw materials to outgoing finished product.
“The main areas of robot applications are currently still the heavy palletizing work and tasks in the field of packaging and re-packaging,” says Schiller. “However enormous developments in the fields of hygienic design, electronic image capture and analysis and gripper technology are making it possible to use robots increasingly for ever more difficult tasks in direct contact with foods.”
An expert forum on topics of current interest to the food industry is also scheduled. This forum, titled "Tropics, Trends, Technologies -- what's moving today's food industry?" will offer presentations and panel discussions on topics of current interest. Expect discussions on convenience, food authenticity, modified atmosphere packaging, genome editing, high pressure processing and more. A separate forum will be dedicated to food ingredients and product development. This forum will address the topics of clean labeling, personalized nutrition, texture design, enzymes in food production and functional foods.
For more information on Anuga FoodTec 2018, visit www.anugafoodtec.com.