Ceepackaging

Events

Salima organiser speaks of event

We talked to the head of the SALIMA Fair Mrs. Věra Menšíková about the event:

Every run of the SALIMA Fair brings a number of novelties, what novelties will be presented at SALIMA 2008 and how do you appraise the interest in exhibition spaces?

Visitors consider Salima the highlight of not only Czech, but also Central-European food industry and the oncoming Salima run will certainly come up to their expectations. The interest in exhibition spaces can be compared with its past run and even slightly higher in some segments. In three months an offer of more than a thousand of firms  worldwide will be in Brno on show. Higher attention will be drawn as usual to international gastronomy. As a reaction on a growing demand of Central-European consumers for quality exotic foodstuffs, for the first time the so-called Asian Hall will be opened, in which firms from Thailand, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and  other Asian countries will participate. We also want to emphasize the offer of food from the countries of Latin America. Some important foreign producers from the meat industry, for instance the Polish company Animex belonging to the American Group Smithfield Foods – the biggest pork and meat products processing firm worldwide – and the company VION – the biggest meat and meat products processing firm in Germany – will be new exhibitors at Salima. However, the largest exhibition space will be occupied, as usual, by home producers.  At the fair trademarks KLASA will be again granted and the awarded products will be also presented.

For the first time Salima 2008 will be aimed at organic products which represent the most quickly growing segment of the world market in food. The interest in the products of environment-friendly agriculture and certified organic products has been increasing also in our country, although it is far from being comparable with that in the West-European countries and most organic foodstuffs sold in our country have been imported so far. For this reason we want to acquaint visitors with the advantages of organic food, however, in particular to promote quality products of Czech provenance. At the fair results of the sixth specialist competition “Czech organic food of the year” will be announced ; its partner will be for the first time the company Trade Fairs Brno along with the Food Chamber of the Czech Republic. Nominated organic foodstuffs will be presented on a special exhibition space and visitors will be also able to taste them. Some more firms, also foreign ones, will have their products within the project TRENDS 2008 on display. Products of modern food industry for a healthy lifestyle were very successful last time during their premiere and I believe that this time ever more producers will take part in the project. TRENDS 2008 have been expanded by a new category “GO Organic!“ focused on organic food and products of environment-friendly agriculture.

At SALIMA we meet as usual with a  quality specialist accompanying program. What will be the greatest attraction of this year like?

First of all I must mention Food Forum which will deal, on the first show day, with the topics of the common EU policy. Ministers of Agriculture and Food Industry from Germany, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and also representatives of the European Commission were invited to participate. Food Forum will be held under the patronage of EU Commissioners for agriculture, health and consumer’s protection.

The second day of the fair will be as usual Czech National Day.  In addition to the official part of the program – trademarks KLASA will be presented as in the past years and all awarded products will be also on show. In the evening the results of the Grand Prix VINEX Competition will be announced.

The above day will be also enriched with the topic Organic Food. At the Exhibition Centre the conference “Organic food in catering facilities – Health and sustainability on a plate” will be staged. It will be the first international conference in the Czech Republic and Central Europe primarily devoted  to the role of catering from the point of view of the healthy and ecological advantages of the food consumed. It will present the best examples  from several European countries, also from the Czech Republic, and will allow to establish contacts with professionals in catering who have been dealing with organic food. It will be a unique opportunity and I trust that our specialist public will not be missing!

An interesting novelty has been prepared for Czech food exporters. The past Salima run  confirmed the interest of foreign professionals in the fair by their record proportion, i.e. 13.4 %. However, we want to strengthen ever more the pro-exportation  character of the fair  and will invite, in cooperation with CzechTrade Agency, commercial missions of dealers and other professionals from a number of countries.  Also a meeting of CzechTrade office managers  with commercial counsellors from chosen world countries  will be staged at the Exhibition Centre. Czech producers will be able to consult about their intentions with foreign specialists at individual appointments.

Why exhibitors – Czech producers of machinery, equipment, food ingredients and food-industry products -  should not be missing  at the next SALIMA Fair 2008?

It is impossible to mention all reasons, why not to miss the oncoming fair run as it will offer a lot to choose from. We are talking about SALIMA, but in fact a complex of four fairs  (Salima, MBK, Inteco, Vinex) and two specialist projects (Trends 2008 and Organic Food) have been prepared; they include the whole food-industry production, processing, business and gastronomy. In brief – a commercial opportunity is involved held every two years. So see you in Brno from 4 to 7 March 2008.