X Reasons Why Anuga Remains the Biggest Trade Show for the Food & Beverage Industry

12 Aug 2021

We can’t talk about the relevance of Anuga without mentioning its size. Fact is that Anuga is one of the biggest trade fairs for food and drinks. It regularly takes over a big portion of the exhibition grounds at Koelnmesse with 266,800 square metres of hall space utilized for trade booths and the support program.

Who needs all this space? The last time Anuga took to the stage, there were over 7400 international exhibitors and an audience of 165,000 trade visitors. More than 122,000 of them were foreign nationals. This cements Anuga’s reputation as the most international trade fair in the world.

Another reason why Anuga is the must-see trade show of its kind is the fact that it has 10 separate shows in itself organized around major product categories. You get to experience everything in Fine Food, Frozen Food, Meat, Chilled & Fresh Food, Dairy, Bread & Bakery, Hot Beverages, Drinks, Organic, Culinary Concepts. Outside of food groups, Anuga also services the processing chain with technological advancements and solutions at Food Service and RetailTec.

As an exhibitor, you’re in the perfect position to break into new markets, because you have not just the whole of Europe at your fingertips, but Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. That’s an opportunity no other trade show gives its attendees. The quality of trade visitors is also quite high. Visitors come from all professional backgrounds - retailers and wholesalers, health food stores, trading cooperatives, beverage retailers and wholesalers, drugstores, trade representatives, skilled food trades, food importers and exporters, the food industry and suppliers to the food industry.

If you’re in the game to develop new and exciting products, then Anuga gives you the opportunity to shine bright and reach an even greater audience. All this is due to the Anuga taste Innovation Show – a major platform for boosting breakthrough innovations and highlighting emerging trends for the future. Enter your products online and enter the competition to win a coveted spot on the show’s site. You can be one of ten major product innovations, which will be presented in a digital show to attendees.

The Halal market is one of the biggest in the world considering that there are 1.5 billion Muslims all around the world, and Anuga creates a thriving environment for exhibitors and buyers to meet freely. The Anuga Halal Market is a new edition to the format for the food fair and not only helps generate sales leads for exhibitors, but informs consumers about trends and novelties that define the market right now. Another specialized hall dedicated to a specific food category is the Anuga Organic Hall. The organic foods market is not new by any chance and this special show has been part of Anuga for almost twenty years now. There’s a lot of money to be made in the organic sector and the Organic Hall positions you front and centre to target buyers.

Each new edition of Anuga is built around a specific theme. In light of the pandemic and climate change, the upcoming theme is going to be Transformation. The last two years have shown several big disruptions to the processing and supply chains. We were exposed to glaring pain points where health policy, the economy and societies are concerned. Change is needed and change is happening whether we like it or not. That’s why Anuga is basing its program around ‘Transform’ as its key topic.

Anuga is also home to several high profile conferences that investigate cutting-edge nutrition and food concepts. We have two in mind to show you. One is NEWTRITION X. Innovation Summit, which takes a step towards personalised nutrition – the future of how we’re going to eat. Rather than just follow one-size-fits-all dietary practices, personalised nutrition creates a food profile that works for an individual’s organism.

The second is the New Food Conference, which looks for alternatives to our current diet. There’s already been a lot of research and development placed into alternative proteins. We already know that plant-based proteins are our solid plan B, but where do we go beyond that? The conference features recognized scientists who will answer these questions, which become ever more pressing in the context of the climate crisis.