Gulfood 2019; An Appetizing Festival
We had a successful outing at the 24th Edition of the Gulfood 2019 held at the Dubai Trade Center. Gulfood is the world’s largest annual food, beverage and hospitality exhibition which attracts Food & Beverage professionals all over the world to Dubai every year. About 9800 visitors from 193 countries and over 5000 international exhibitors were present.
UAE imports over 80% of its food product of which, around 50% are re-exported to Gulf Cooperative Council countries, Indian subcontinent and Eastern Africa. This is why Gulfood attracts buyers from all over the world, including the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).
Gulfood 2019 is a trade event opened strictly to trade and business visitors. The event opened on 11 am to 7pm, February 17th and ended 5pm on 21st February. It featured seminars for newly established businesses who were privileged to gain knowledge and training by professionals.
The theme of this year’s Gulfood exhibition is ‘The World of Good, The World of Food’. It featured ground breaking innovations that harness the industry’s evolving trends. The exhibition presented eight major market sectors including Beverages, Diary, Fats & Oils, Pulses, Grains & Cereals, Health, Wellness & Free-from, Meat & Poultry, Power Brands and World Food.
Events at the Gulfood 2019
- Gulfood Connexions, the online business matchmaking and meetings platform
- Gulfood Mobile App, loaded with useful features such as show navigation and search.
- Highly focused and industry-specific networking sessions.
- Gulfood Innovation Awards Gala Dinner
This year’s Gulf Innovation Awards celebrated innovators across the food and beverage sector. The panel of judges included international leaders, media personalities and high profile industry experts. The award categories were: Most Innovative Soft Beverage, Most Innovative Hot Beverage, Most Innovative Dairy Innovation, Most Innovative Halal Food, Most Innovative Baked or Confectionery, Most Innovative Condiment or Sauce, Most Innovative Frozen or Chilled Food, Most Innovative Organic Product, Most Innovative Health & Wellness Product, Most Innovative Meat or Poultry Innovation, Best New Product Development and Best Packaging (Design) Impact.
See also: All you Need to Know Before Exporting to the UAE
Highlights of Events
The Gulfood launched the very first Gulf International Culinary League. Top high-profile chefs, Chef Francesco Guarracino; Chef Roberto Segura; Chef Saradhi Dakara and Chef Manal Al Alem represented Europe, America, Asia and Africa-Middle East respectively. They prepared delicious three-course menus in just one hour to contest for the title of best cuisine. The chefs only found out about their ingredients five minutes before the contest began.
The Tastes of the World is a new and exciting feature that showcased the best cuisines from across the globe. Michelin-starred chefs such as Heinz Beck, sushi aster Tomoo Kimura and India’s Mural Manjunath held master classes.
The Tea House, sponsored by Tea Valley took visitors on a journey of how tea was originally used as medicine in many ancient cultures and taught on vast benefits of tea.
The startup Programme was a platform for 50 plus entrepreneurs from around the world to demonstrate how their contribution to the food industry is lighting the way for a smarter tomorrow.
Photocredit: golfood.com
Dr. Bernhard van Lengerich, CEO of Food System Strategies and Board Member of Beyond Meat used his keynote address – The Future of Food: Challenges and Opportunities, to stress the future of food is not about reacting to “what happens to us, it is about what we can do”. He spoke about changing the way the world produces and consumes food is the key to a bright and sustainable future for the global food industry. “We must waste less, we must change our diets,” he told Summit delegates.
“It takes a lot of energy for a big animal to produce 1kg of meat, protein,” he added, stressing that the same amount of protein can be grown from plant-based and alternative sources with much less energy, and land. He cited the example of the Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger, a 100 percent plant-based burger, made from pea protein. The product uses 99 percent less water and 93 per cent less land than a traditional beef burger, but has the same amount of protein, taste and texture of the animal-protein burger.
Barakat Quality Plus, one of the region’s largest food suppliers presented its new range of ice pops and juices at Gulfood 2019. According to Barakat’s Managing Director, Chef Michael Gerhard Wunsch, the ongoing trend for healthier food indicates “a sea change in the consumer’s general outlook to what is good for them.”
The Halal World Food returned for its 6th edition at Gulfood 2019. It showcased the full spectrum of halal products, including vegan and vegetarian food, meat and poultry, canned goods, energy drinks, gourmet and much more. The manufacturers of halal products were asked to adopt clear labeling approaches with respect to animal slaughter and meat preparation practices.
Another top notch promoter of healthier lifestyle, the Dubai-based distributor of wellness product, New County Healthcare LLC (NCH) leveraged on the Gulfood platform to roll out new brands. NCH launched three new brands: specialized Fossil River liquid salts from Spain, Jasberry a cross-bed rice sourced from Thailand, and locally-produced SimplyDates, a snack bar made purely from dates.
The Gulfood Innovation Summit took place from February 18th to 20th; a three days program that featured some of the most influential industry leaders, Q & A sessions and exclusive seminars which delved into the challenges and economic outlook of the food sector. Beyond Meat Board Member, Bernhard van Lengerich, examined the role of food disruptors, followed by Kellogg’s SVP AI within the supply chain.
Expert insights from a selection of top industry insiders, including Mike Yesudas, Chief Technology Officer and Distinguished Engineer at IBM, and Michael Ellis, Jumeirah Group’s Chief Culinary Officer. Some of the industries dissected during the first day of the summit include the F&B sector and ecommerce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt’s Market outlook.
On day two, the topics discussed were how Portugal’s Oceonário de Lisboa was pioneering a sustainable future, followed by outlook on the Kenyan F&B industry. Day three featured sessions focused on the Ukraine and Ethiopia and ended with an insight into India’s thriving food and beverage market.
The Gulfood event has provided a further boost to the UAE F&B sector, serving as a gateway to new markets as Dubai has emerged as a strategic re-export hub for companies aiming to enter or strengthen their market presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
