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.

More on MTFC:

• All you Need to Know Before Exporting to the UAE
• Gracia Farms Looks to Partner with Meet the Farmers Conference for Sustainable Agriculture
• Horticulture Business in Africa
• Investment Opportunities in Africa You Can Tap Into
• MTFC: Trade in Africa

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Documentation

To import goods from another country into the United Arab Emirates, you will be required to submit the following original documents

• • Commercial Invoice: document is to be issued to the importer detailing total quantity, goods description and total value of each item.
  • Certificate of Origin: This is a document that states the country of origin for your goods and this must be approved by your country’s Ministry of Commerce. This certificate is needed for every product you want to export.
  • Health Certificate: This is a proof that the goods have been prepared and shipped under sanitary conditions and are fit for human consumption.
  • Food Safety Inspection Service Certificate: It ensures that meat and poultry products were slaughtered and processed in accordance to the health regulations.
  • Packing List: It is a list that contains the method of packing the shipment. You will have to provide detailed information on the goods, including the weight and code number.
  • Import Permit: Obtain permission of importation from competent agencies in case you encounter restriction on goods.
  • Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Phytosanitary Certificate: The certificate is issued only if your goods have been inspected and properly tested to ensure Phytosanitary regulations of the goods e.g. products like lentils, rice, grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. Don’t be scared, the big word stands for measures taken to protect humans, animals and plants from diseases, pests or contaminations.

NOTE: Original certificates must accompany shipment at the time of entry since it carries details of the shipment.

Next, you must ensure that your shipments are properly labelled with the following information:

• Product description
• Ingredients
• Country of Origin
• Net weight
• Cartons of fresh fruits and vegetables must contain label information but you mustn’t include the expiry dates.
  

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See Also: Leveraging on Meet The Farmers Conference for Agricultural Business Funds

Other Requirements:

Attach the following certificates to food items for exportation to UAE:

• A health certificate is to be issued by exporter country to ascertain that the food items are healthy for consumption.
• A Halal slaughter certificate is needed from a UAE approved Islamic Center and authorized by the UAE Embassy/Consulate.
• Dubai Municipality approval letter
• Importer’s license to Trade
• Bill of Entry or Airway Bill
• Packing list
• Commercial Invoice
• Delivery Order (addressed to the Customs Department stating the description of the carrier and the cargo and stating to whom the cargo is to be delivered).
• Country of Origin Certificate

“The exporter is required to pay a commercial invoice legalization fee (this is 1% of consignment value) on all imported products.”

Also note that the import of alcoholic beverages are strictly controlled in the UAE. Only a few local companies are licensed to import or sell alcohol. Non-alcoholic beverages imported into the UAE cannot contain more than 0.05% per volume.

On arrival to the UAE, every food shipment will be inspected to ensure compliance with label and shelf life regulations. Make sure you properly label your produce after packaging. New-to-market products are subject to thorough laboratory analysis and the result will be ready within 5-10 days.

Now that you know what to do, ensure that you effect quality measures into farming processes. Look out for the next article on ‘Exporting to UAE Free Zones’.

To learn more about exporting to the UAE, you should attend ‘Meet the Farmers Conference’ which will hold on 27th and 28th November, 2019. Register as an Exhibitor | Sponsor | Attendee

The post All you Need to Know Before Exporting to the UAE appeared first on MTFC | Meet The Farmers Conference - Nov 2019 - Dubai UAE.

The programme includes two specific initiatives, with the first focussing on the adoption of modern technology for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA Ag-Tech), while the second aims to promote the country’s aquaculture sector, AquaTrack.

Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Future Food Security while unveiling the joint programme between the Future Food Security Office and the Government Accelerators at the Emirates Towers in Dubai highlighted the importance of adopting advanced agricultural technologies to ensure the UAE’s future food security while noting that their introduction will raise the country’s competitiveness in this area, said a Wam news agency report.

“We desire to cooperate with our strategic partners from relevant sectors and institutions, to create a comprehensive plan to improve crop quality and raise productivity, by adopting practical approaches based on the adoption of agricultural technologies during all stages of production,” Almheiri said.

She added that the ministry’s partnership with the Government Accelerators programme will play a key role in achieving the desired progress of the country’s agricultural sector.

The first session of the programme saw the adoption of a set of practical steps that will ensure the implementation a range of initiatives by federal and local authorities over 100 days, which will be declared along with the “National Food Security Strategy.”

Source: zawya.com

The post UAE Launches Advanced Farm Technologies Programme appeared first on MTFC | Meet The Farmers Conference - Nov 2019 - Dubai UAE.