Welsh food and drink take centre stage at world’s largest food fair

Welsh food and drink producers will travel to Cologne in Germany next month to attend one of the world’s largest and leading food and drink trade fairs. Anuga is a three day event intended to develop new export opportunities as well as maintain existing trade with buyers across the globe.

Supported by the Welsh Government, 10 Welsh companies will be part of the Food and Drink Wales delegation at the event from 7-11 October 2017. The biennial fair attracts over 160,000 visitors from 192 countries and is one of the most important trade, sourcing and trend platforms for the international food industry.

The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths will be in attendance at the event on the opening weekend and believes that it is important for Welsh food and drink to be seen on a worldwide platform,

“We are extremely proud of the high quality food and drink that we have on offer in Wales and it is important that we continue to showcase our innovative products at key global trade events such as Anuga.

“The food and drink supply chain is a major part of the Welsh economy and with commitment and hard work we are continuing to work in partnership to sustainably grow the value of the industry significantly by the year 2020 – and realise our vision of becoming a leading food and drink nation.”

A range of Welsh producers will be showcasing their products from a leading frozen yogurt manufacturer and a mineral water company to a savoury snacks and cheese company.

One of the producers looking to make an impact at Anuga is Radnor Hills, the mid Wales soft drinks specialists. Radnor Hills has been creating great tasting soft drinks for over 25 years on their privately owned site in Knighton, Powys. Their product portfolio includes anything from spring water to mixers, presses to fruit juices and healthy children’s products in an array of plastic, glass and tetra formats.

Radnor Hills has also been awarded a 1-star for their Heartsease Farm Strawberry and Mint drink in the Great Taste Awards 2017, which was announced last month, and will be showcasing this product at Anuga this year.

Travel Sector Manager, Chris Butler of Radnor Hills sees Anuga as a great opportunity to explore new markets,

“We are very much looking forward to going to Germany and having a presence at Anuga. It will give us a fantastic opportunity to introduce our existing product portfolio of spring waters, pressés, fruit juices and healthy children’s products to the German market and to have direct contact with buyers, distributors and suppliers.

“We have recently launched a number of innovative products to address the healthy snacking trends markets for adults and children which we are very excited about and very much hope that Anuga will open the door to many new markets.”

Another Welsh company looking to gain considerable success from Anuga is Vydex Corporation Ltd, a health, nutrition and supplement specialist based in Cardiff.

Established in 1988 Vydex is now the UK’s largest independently owned contract manufacturers of innovative products for the sports performance, wellbeing, weight management and dietary markets. All products are of premium quality and Vydex hold many global accreditations including Grade A British Retail Consortium, GMP and Vegan.

Looking to expand their product range further, a new state of the art protein bakery is planned to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2018, which will produce 1 million protein bars, flapjacks, cookies and health snacks a week.

Vydex are currently implementing a new export strategy as European Sales Manager Gareth Kear explains,

“With assistance from the Welsh Government we are eager to explore other global markets. We have already established new commercial business in Holland, Spain and North Africa as a result of attending the FIBO International trade show for health and fitness this year. We see Anuga as another excellent opportunity to showcase our new protein bar products to the international market place.”

Savoury snacks company Calbee UK will launch its first export brand, ‘Harvest Snaps’ at Anuga next month. They are made of 72% green pea, being a source of protein, high in fibre, have less fat than standard potato chips and all less than 100 calories per serving. Grant Martin of Calbee said,

“We are delighted to announce that we will be launching Calbee UK’s first export brand, Harvest Snaps. They are baked pea crisps and are available in three delicious flavours – Lightly Salted, Black Pepper and Rosemary and Paprika. We will be launching the products at Anuga, where we see this as an ideal event to test the global market. This is a very exciting time for us and we are confident they will prove popular with customers.”

Welsh food and drink producers will be located at the Food and Drink Wales stands in:
Fine Food / International Hall (Hall10.2 – F066-F069); Drinks Hall (Hall 8.1, D070); Dairy Hall (Hall 10.1 – G010a).

Anuga is held in Cologne, Germany 9-11 October 2017.