2010 is an IFFA year. This leading international trade fair for the meat industry - processing, packaging and sales - will be opening its doors in Frankfurt am Main from 8 to 13 May. All national and international market leaders have already signed up. Messe Frankfurt is reckoning on some 900 companies from 47 countries presenting their new products over a floor area of more than 100,000 square metres.
Around 60,000 trade visitors from 125 different countries are expected.
Since 1949 IFFA has been the international meeting place for the meat industry worldwide, and the unrivalled forum for investment decisions.
It is unique in the world: the range of manufacturers' products represents the whole of the production chain – from slaughtering and processing to packaging and sales.
The exhibits are divided into clearly defined areas: slaughtering and cutting/jointing, processing, ingredients, packaging, conveying and handling, cooling, storage, transport, food safety and quality management. A further exhibition area presents the topic of "Sales – everything you need for the specialist wholesale and retail business".
Equally unique: manufacturers create their new products to coincide with the dates of IFFA and hence show their market-ready innovations for the first time at IFFA. Only in Frankfurt can one get information on the latest products, technologies, processes and trends at first hand.
Moreover the status of IFFA as a leading world trade fair is underlined by the extraordinarily high level of international participation on the part of both exhibitors and visitors. Almost one in every two trade and professional visitors to IFFA and more than half of the exhibiting companies come from outside Germany. The leading exhibitor nations, after Germany, are Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, France and the USA.
The leading visitor nations, after Germany, are The Russian
Federation, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, and Poland.
Important topics for the coming event include, amongst others, efficiency, consumer protection, food safety, hygiene and the extension of automated processes. The increasing spread of convenience products is a continuing trend, and this will be reflected in the substantial section of the exhibition devoted to packaging.
IFFA will be accompanied by an extensive complementary programme and special exhibitions. At the Meat Vision Conference on 11
May, top-flight speakers will provide insights into important current themes in the sector: these talks will be followed by an opportunity for discussion.
The complementary programme also includes the quality competitions, which traditionally enjoy enthusiastic participation both from within Germany and from outside. With its more than 1,500 types of sausage and its famous traditional skills in meat processing, Germany is known throughout the world as the land of the "sausage specialists".
Precisely for this reason, sausage and ham producers from other nations are keen to use the competitions at IFFA to establish a name for themselves with their products.
Further information about IFFA, together with illustrative material is available on the internet at: www.iffa.com
